Situation in S. Philippines worsens as military steps up offensive against

The situation in some parts of Mindanao in Southern Philippines has worsened as the Philippine military intensified its offensive against armed guerrillas of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) now officially tagged as "lawless elements" or MILF "lost command". Government troops have completely overrun a heavily-fortified encampment of MILF Commander Wahid Abdusalam in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay, after bombing sorties by OV-10 attack planes of the Philippine Air Force and ground assault by the Philippine Army. On Thursday, military officials led by Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) Chief Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer visited the captured Abdusalam stronghold where heavy fighting had left 13 dead and forced some 30,000 civilians to flee. "The safe haven of kidnapping operations and terrorist activities in Zamboanga Sibugay has fallen," Ferrer said. But Abdusalam and several of his men have reportedly slipped through the cordon of the government forces. At the encampment, government troops seized two .50 caliber machine guns left by the rebels. Most of the estimated 100 gunmen holed up in the camp had fled, according to Army Chief Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz. "There are reports that Abdusalam fled with 40 of his men and that he had been wounded and unable to walk due to his injuries," Ortiz said. Other reports said that Abdusalam may have been among those killed during the attacks. Government troops found freshly dug graves at the abandoned MILF camp. The MILF has initially admitted that Abdusalam was commander of its 113th Base Command and that his encampment was a legitimate MILF territory and thus off-limits to any military operation based on the existing agreement on cessation of hostilities signed by the government and the MILF. The military has also stepped up its operations to flush out another notorious MILF commander, Dan Laksaw Asnawi, who has been tagged as the leader of the MILF group that ambushed and slaughtered 19 soldiers last Oct. 18 in Al-Barka, Basilan, another territory claimed by the MILF. Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief Gen. Eduardo Oban said that government troops are now conducting intelligence operations to locate Asnawi's hideout in the dense jungles of Basilan before mounting a major assault similar to the one conducted in Zamboanga Sibugay. Earlier, Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, has warned the military not to attack the MILF camp in Basilan and vowed that they will never surrender Asnawi, who is also believed to have ordered the beheading of 14 Philippine marines in 2007. The Al-Barka bloodbath was followed by other MILF attacks in Zamboanga Sibugay and Lanao del Sur that has claimed more than 30 lives, mostly government soldiers. The military operation, now labeled as "all-out justice" and not an all-out war against the Muslim rebels, was ordered after Philippine President Benigno Aquino got a lot of flak from both his critics and allies for not condemning the Oct. 18 attack but instead blaming the military for failing to prevent it. Aquino publicly chastised the military for "operational lapses" in the Al-Barka incident and even ordered the relief of the Philippine Army spokesman and the field commanders in the province. A source in the military said that Aquino has initially balked at the idea of attacking the MILF camps but he was reportedly overruled by his top military commanders who felt that the Moro rebels have already inflicted much damage to the military establishment, not only in terms of lives lost but also in troop demoralization. In fact, there are now persistent rumors about restiveness in the military although this was strongly denied by the government. Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda has dismissed such rumors even as he denied that the Aquino administration has pinpointed allies of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as behind the reported destabilization plot. Maj. Gen. Francisco Cruz, AFP deputy chief for intelligence, also said that talks about demoralization in the military are just "products of imagination of somebody who likes this government to go down." The Aquino administration is also now on the defensive after it admitted that it had given P5 million to the MILF supposedly for some confidence-building projects in Mindanao. After being confronted with reports that the money was used by the MILF to buy arms, Marvic Leonen, government chief negotiator, said that he would now seek an accounting of the check that he handed to the MILF in their talks in Kuala Lumpur last Aug. 22-23. The money given to the MILF, supposedly intended for the Bangsamoro Leadership and Management Institute, could not have been known to the public had it not been exposed by a Manila daily a few days ago. Leonen has confirmed that it was President Aquino who ordered the release of the money to the MILF after his one-on-one meeting with MILF chairman Murad Ibrahim in Tokyo last Aug. 5. Some members of Congress are now asking the Aquino government to explain why it gave the supposed donation to the MILF whose avowed goal is to dismember the republic and set up its own separate state.