AFP troops clear 2 villages as fighting rages in NCotabato

(Updated 5:15 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines - More than a day since it started its offensive against rebel positions in North Cotabato, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Monday said it has cleared two of 15 villages in the province's Midsayap town occupied by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). In a telephone interview, AFP vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna said government troops have cleared the villages of Upper Lapak and Lagindingan in Midsayap since starting offensives against rebel positions in the area last Sunday. Government troops attacked MILF positions in Midsayap, Aleosan and Pikit towns Sunday, setting off fierce exchanges of machine gun and artillery fire after hundreds of rebels defied an ultimatum to withdraw from areas they occupied since July. "The operation is going on and it has been going on for more than 24 hours already and as of now we have already, out of the 15 barangays (villages) to be cleared, two villages were already cleared. Our troops are already inside, and there are no more MILF forces inside the villages of Upper Lapak and Lagindingan in Midsayap. The 13 others are being cleared," Luna said. Luna said as hostilities continued, the toll on the government side rose to 1 dead and 12 wounded. "In the process of our police military law enforcement operations, we had 11 encounters since yesterday (Sunday) and we have several casualties. We have 12 wounded and one killed in action and on the other side, undetermined. I would presume that there are more (casualties on the MILF side)," Luna said. Luna, however, said the military received "reliable information" that seven MILF rebels were killed in the offensives. Earlier, the National Disaster Coordinating Council identified the lone fatality in the government side as a certain Pfc Bacani who was killed in Bagolibas village in Aleosan town. NDCC also identified six of the 12 wounded Army soldiers, namely: Corporals Manimtim, Formon and Lemit and Privates First Class Lumayog, Pagawitan and Barrientos. Thousands displaced In its report, NDCC also reported that a total of 18,633 families or 129,819 individuals have been displaced by the on going campaign in five North Cotabato towns: Aleosan, Midsayap, Tulunan, Pikit and Libungan. Of the displaced persons, a total of 77,308 individuals have been relocated to 43 evacuation centers while the rest have opted to stay with their relatives. In the same interview, Luna cited difficulties in reclaiming areas occupied by MILF forces, saying aside from fighting on land, MILF fighters are also engaging government troops in marshlands. "Yung labanan is either land-based or marsh-based. Ganun kahirap ang situation dito. They can escape anytime using pumpboats kasi flooded itong whole marshland area," Luna said. Luna also noted that MILF rebels are putting up a stiff resistance in areas they are currently occupying. "They are resisting heavily, matindi ang resistance nila. (I think) they would like to affirm that they should own those lands," Luna said. He, however, noted that the MILF resistance in the 13 remaining villages will not last long, citing the rebel units' limited supplies. "I don’t think it can last, wala naman silang masyadong pagkukunan ng resources nila and lalo na siguro yung mga bala nila. You know we want to resolve this as early as possible, we don’t want to count days, if we can resolve this as early as possible then it will be better so the affected people can return to their normal lives," Luna said. No spillover Luna also said hostilities are not likely to spillover into the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and affect the ongoing elections. "Luckily, this is not affecting the elections. Yung lugar na pinaglalaban namin dito at saka yung eleksyon, ilog lang ang pagitan and we are able to contain this recalcitrant group at the other side of the river, hindi sila nakakatawid,. Dito sa kabila, the voting is going on very smoothly," Luna said. Nonetheless, Luna said additional government troops have been deployed to secure the ARMM elections, while another contingent was tapped to help out in the government offensives in North Cotabato. "We have additional deployments for the elections. We are confronting two important jobs, to clear the areas occupied by these renegade MILF rebels and to protect the elections. Yun ang trabaho namin dito ngayon," LUna said. "Para dito sa elections, we have about 12,000 in six provinces ng ARMM. Dito sa labanan dito sa Cotabato, i would estimate 2,000 Army, Navy and Air Force personnel yan," he added. - GMANews.TV