A Mess in Mindanao
By Zachary Abuza
This weekend saw a number of charges leveled and arrests of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), that threaten to derail the peace process. Police charged nine members and “former members” of the MILF for the 5 January bombing in Cotabato, in which there were no deaths.
Of the nine, two are fairly well known: Ustadz Wahid Tondok and Abdulbasit Usman. Ustadz Wahid Tondok is a longtime member of the MILF and a senior commander. He is the head of the 105th Base Command based in the southwestern corner of the Liguasan Marsh into the foothills of Taliyan. He has always had a reputation as a hardliner in the MILF, and one of those most responsible for giving sanctuary to Abu Sayyaf and members of Jemaah Islamiyah. In 2005-06, the leader of the MILF reportedly doubled the number of base commands and assembled them under five regional Front Commands led by key loyalists. This was ostensibly done to marginalize some of the more radical commanders like Tondok (the other being Ustadz Ameril Umbra Kato who police say is also a suspect). There have been sporadic reports that Wahid Tondok was expelled from the MILF, though I have no evidence of this.
The MILF strenuously denies that Abdulbasit Usman is or has ever been a member of the MILF. Many debriefs of JI members contradicts this. There is considerable evidence that he was under Mukhlas Yunos, the head of the MILF’s special operations group, which trained besides the ASG and JI, until his capture in 2003. He has been linked to a string of bombings in Mindanao in 2006. MILF officers are not paid, and it is not inconceivable that he has simply been a gun for hire.
The other seven, according to the police are members of the MILF’s armed wing the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces. They are: Siyo Obal, Sajid Pakiladatu, Sedik Sotto, Ustadz Hawon, Pitta Otto, Abdul Haq; and Kule Mamaging.
Over the weekend, police announced that they had arrested four other MILF members for the 10 January bombing in Cotabato that killed 1: The first, Surab Anok, was arrested in Cotabato in Cotabato on 12 January. The following day, Hussein Ahaddin was arrested in Zamboanga City. The police then arrested four more individuals on Saturday on Cotabato. The MILF confirmed that two, Mike Dalama and Andy Kalid, were members; it is unclear whether the other two, Norodin Salik and Esmael Abo, were members of the Front. The police claim that the four were caught with detonating chord, a blasting cap, a one-time fuse attached to a motorcycle were seized from the suspects. The police did not believe that this group were involved in the 10 January Bombing in General Santos that killed 6 and wounded over 20.
The MILF has responded strenuously, at first in a formal protest to the ceasefire committee (CCCH) and then on its website. Von al Haq, the head of the MILF-CCCH, denied that the Front had anything to do with the four recent bombings and stated that these arrests are considered "prohibited hostile acts" under paragraph 3.1.1 of the Implementing Guidelines of the current ceasefire and called it a “blatant violation,” that “totally undermines the GRP–MILF peace process."
The MILF website has insinuated that a high level politician – read the ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan – ordered the arrests to discredit his rivals the MILF and to undermine the peace process.
Hardliners on all sides of this conflict abound and there are, sadly, a large number of spoilers.