MILF: No bright future for 'rogue' commander Kato

A “rogue" guerrilla leader with ties to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front left his mountain lair following a barrage from the Philippine Army earlier this month, the secessionist group said Saturday. The MILF said Ameril Ombra Kato and his lieutenants in the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters headed for the marshlands after leaving Datu Piang and Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao. Earlier this year, the MILF said it is seriously considering casting him out after he “formed a separate army." Such an act is intolerable in any government or revolutionary organizations, the group pointed out. Kato was one of the commanders who led attacks in Mindanao in 2008 after the Supreme Court thumbed down a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the government and the MILF. The MILF said Kato, who joined the group in 1996, had allied himself with another MILF “dropout," Shariff Mohsin Julabbi. Julabbi was ousted by the MILF Central Committee for “arrogating to himself power beyond his task" as special spokesman of the MILF for Western Mindanao. According to the MILF, Julabbi, who hails from Zamboanga City, attended the meeting called by Kato early this month in his mountain lair. Meanwhile, the MILF said its central committee is not giving up yet on Kato, saying that there is still hope for him. But it cited a “source" in the MILF that Kato’s chances of returning to the MILF are “not very bright." “He is getting the headache commanders in the MILF," the MILF website quoted an MILF leader. — JE, GMA News