At 430AM on Tuesday, May 24,2011 Asila"Kumander Gordon"Syafullah,the Commanding Officer of the BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces,armed wing of the MILF) National Guard Base Command telephoned the MILF CCCH (Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities) Secretariat Chairman,Rashid Ladlasan to notify him that the BIAF had taken custody of Soken"Angelina"Chew Mantigue after handing over the still undisclosed ransom to"former"BIAF guerilla Boy Calvo.Chairman Ladiasan then quickly notified his GPH (Government of the Philippines) counterpart,Major General Carlos Sol and asked the General to rendevouz with 3 MILF representatives who would accompany him to retrieve the victim.By 530AM Major General Sol and his escorts had arrived at the riverside clearing in Barangay Taviran in the town of Kabutalan,Maguindanao Province to await Kumander Gordon and his man who were travelling overland from the release site in that municipality's Barangay Dadtumeg.Before too long the BIAF force emerged from the jungle and Major General Sol formally took custody of Ms.Mantigue from the BIAF.
Major General Sol then drove the shaken victim directly to 6th Infantry Division Headquarters at Camp Siongco in Barangay Awang,Datu Odin Sinsuat in that same province,Maguindanao.It was in the Camp Siongco Hospital that Ms.Mantigue's grateful husband and children were able to finally relax a bit,knowing that their wife and mother had survived none the worse for the wear.
In follow up operations that morning the PNP (Philippine National Police) stumbled across some unhappy BIAF guerillas and a brief firefight ensued in which one police officer was critically wounded.Still,the day was hailed as a success by both the MILF/BIAF and the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) as well as the Government as a whole.The MILF claimed that Ms.Mantigue had been"rescued"by the BIAF after it had seized 3 BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters) whom they then held hostage as bargaining chips.The BIFF of course is the new group of Islamic Insurgents led by the infamous Ustadz Ameril Ombra Kato.Kato was the man single handedly responsible for starting the 2008 War (aka MoA-AD War,or Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain War) when he invaded and occupied 5 municipalities in North Cotabato Province.At the time Kato was the CO (Commanding Officer) of the BIAF's largest Base Command,the 105.
As the war wound down in the middle of 2009 the MILF negotiated a Ceasefire with the Government (GPH) and didn't bother consulting Kato.Then,in an effort to buy goodwill in a resumption of the MILF-GPH Peace Process the BIAF removed Kato from Command,replacing him with his much more moderate Second in Command,Zacarias Goma.The MILF then assigned Kato to their Shar'ia Court (Islamic Court) as a lowly legal aide.To add insult to injury they claimed it was a promotion.Kato formally resigned from the MILF/BIAF and took virtually the entire 105 Base Command with him.At the same time members of the BIAF 109 Command and members of the former Ampatuan CVO/CAFGU (Civilian Volunteer Organization/Citizen Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit,Force Multiplication elements ubder the PNP and AFP respectively) joined forces with Kato's burgeoning guerilla force.
Despite this turn of events both the MILF/BIAF and BIFF have tried walking a very fine line between rejecting each other and re-integrating.The BIFF wear teeshirts emblazoned with their own initials,"BIFF" with"of the MILF"under it as if to portray itself as an MILF armed organisation.In late March of this year the MILF Central Committee issued a Resolution demanding that Kato remove the MILF initials as well as for the BIFF to stop claiming an association.On the other hand it has been stating publicly that Kato was still an MILF member and that they would welcome him and his men back into the fold should he ever decide to follow the dictates of the MILF/BIAF hierarchy.
While the MILF/BIAF would have no qualms about kidnapping members of KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) groups,it would not dare to directly oppose the BIFF.The BIAF is in shambles as I have noted in other recent MILF entries.Those guerillas not actually joining Kato usually sympathise with his direct pull no punches methodology.Likwise there has been a rash of defections to the MNLF,both the MNLF-Misuari as well as MNLF-EC15 (Executive Committee of 15,aka MNLF-Sema).In fact,it is the MNLF-EC15 that is directly responsible for the Mantigue KFR,as noted in my previous KFR entry for the Second Quarter of 2011.
The day after Ms.Mantigue was released,Wednesday,May 25,2011 the new governmental taskforce taking aim at Tsinoy (Filipinos of Chinese descent) KFRs in that particular area went to the media with a strongly worded condemnation of both the Mantigue Family as well as invectives against other governmental entities obstensibly taking aim at the Tsinoy KFR problem.TF Kutawato,created by the Department of Justice to uncover local political clout attached to the main KFR Group responsible for the Cotabato City kidnappings says that the Mantigue Family had had CCTV (Closed Circuit TV,Security Cameras) footage clearly showing the identities of the 4 kidnappers posing as customers.After the men dragged Ms.Mantigue kicking and screaming into incognito the family quickly took the tape and gave it to their parish priest,worried that the highly connected kidnappers would come back if they turned it over to local authorities.The priest then took it upon himself to turn over the tape to PACER (Presidential Anti-Crime and Emergency Response).TF Kutawato maintains thatif they had been able to view the tape they would have been able to launch a rescue operation.As I noted in that afore mentioned entry on KFR,that is the last thing any intelligent person would want since Filipino Authorities have absolutely no finesse in hostage situations.
The 4 customers cum kidnappers:
1) Kumander Taylor Silongan
2) Sammy Tilaka
3) Kadaffy Guiamalon
4) Datukan Kalbo
The 4 were sub-contracted by Boy Calvo on behalf of Manyangkang Saguile,himself working for none other than MNLF-EC15 Chairman Muslimin Sema.Sema of course is ALSO the Vice Mayor of Cotabato City...ergo TF Kutawato.Ah what a tangeled web.
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