Child warrior surrenders after NCotabato clash

KIDAPAWAN CITY — A "child combatant" has surrendered to a village chief in Magpet town in Cotabato province after the boy was allegedly abandoned by members of the Black Fighters, believed to be a breakaway group of the New Peoples’ Army in the province. Maximo, not his real name, 13 years old, was seen alone by Magpet town's Barangay Mahongkog chairman Godfrey Acupan, minutes after a clash between soldiers of the Bravo Company of the 57th Infantry Battalion and members of the Black Fighters at Sitio Tulay, around 1:50 p.m. Tuesday, a police report said. After the clash that lasted for 45 minutes, members of the Black Fighters fled and left the boy alone. Magpet police said Maximo was interviewed at their headquarters after his surrender to Acupan, who happened to be at the site of the clash. During the interview, the boy narrated his ordeal in the hands of a certain Rex Ansabo, who allegedly was among the over 40 inmates that escaped from the Amas Provincial Jail in February 2007, an incident considered the bloodiest jailbreak in the province since 2000. [Jailbreak prompts tighter security at Zambo prison] Rex is the youngest brother of Ibon Ansabo, Maximo’s brother-in-law, who heads the Black Fighters, the police report said. After his escape from prison, Rex joined his brothers Samante and Ibon in organizing the Black Fighters, whose members were former NPA rebels operating in Magpet town. Also, authorities said the boy claimed to have witnessed the killing of a certain Jimmy Kelario in Sitio Natayukan, also in Barangay Mahongkog. The victim was allegedly killed by members of the Black Fighters. Kelario was shot while sleeping inside his hut, around 9 p.m., last August 5. The Black Fighters Group, according to Lt. Rommel Aguilar of the 57th IB, has 20 members who have strong firepower, including three M14, three M16, 2 carbines, and a 12-gauge shotgun. The group is allegedly engaged in cattle rustling, theft and robbery, killing of innocent farmers, and harassment of civilians in Barangay Mahongkog. Aguilar hinted the Black Fighters want to drive away the villagers to get the land, which they claimed was part of their ancestral domain. The Ansabo brothers are members of a Bagobo tribe. Insp. Glenn Alegado, chief of the Magpet municipal police station, said the Black Fighters are now the subject of their manhunt operations. Meantime, the child combatant is placed under the custody of Alegado, who said he would turn over the boy to the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office in the city. — Malu Cadeliña Manar/LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV