Philippines' MILF welcomes renegade commander's followers to rejoin

Philippines' Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Sunday said hundreds of followers of former MILF leader Ameril Umbra Kato are welcomed to rejoin the MILF amid reports that Kato died on Saturday, a few days after a heart attack. MILF spokesman Von Al Haq courted the more or less 500 fully- armed members of Kato's Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM), saying both the MILF and the BIFM are working for the good of the Bangsamoro people. "Our doors are open for them," said Von Al Haq. However, Al Haq said BIFM members who want to rejoin the MILF should respect the MILF policy, which is supporting the peace negotiations with the government. Kato's group bolted out of the MILF last year because they were against the process, among others. Kato, the former commander of the MILF's 105th Base Command, has standing arrest warrants in connection with attacks his group mounted against military and civilian targets in August 2008. "This is a big loss to the Bangsamoro people if it's true that he (Kato) is already dead because we think that his intention is to have a genuine solution to the problems of the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao. This means a big loss," said Al Haq. "To his followers, the doors of the MILF is open (for them to rejoin the MILF). This group is after the good of the Bangsamoro people," added Al Haq of the BIFM, which is based at Camp Omar in the southern province of Maguindanao. On Saturday, the 6th Infantry Division commander Brig. Gen. Rey Ardo said the military received information that Kato died in the morning, a few days after he allegedly suffered a heart attack. Ardo said they were validating the information. Al Haq said they also got reports from civilians and Kato's relatives about the death of Kato but there is no official confirmation to this. Some said Kato died in Maguindanao while others said he perished in Toril district in Davao City. Al Haq said he is confident that Kato's true status will be learned sooner, adding that his death, if true, cannot be kept secret forever. "If he died, its automatic that he should be buried in 24 hours. Definitely, someone witnessed the digging of his grave," Al Haq said. The MILF has been fighting government troops for decades to establish a self-rule Muslim sub-state in the south of the predominantly Catholic country. Peace talks between the government and the MILF stalled since August 2008 following the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. A final peace deal with the government will touch the issues of autonomy and the civil settlement of the group's 11,800-strong guerrilla fighters.