..KORONADAL CITY -- South Cotabato officials stood pat over the weekend on their allegation that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) tried to set up satellite camps in the area, contrary to results of investigation of the International Monitoring Team (IMT).
Colonel Bin Waley Mohammad, IMT-4 head, earlier reported that they did not find an MILF camp at sitio Lampakpak in Barangay Lampari in Banga town.
South Cotabato Governor Arthur Y. Pingoy, citing a report from village officials and residents, insisted there was an attempt to build an MILF camp in the area.
"We will talk with the IMT so we can thresh out the truth," he said, adding the province-led local monitoring team (LMT) earlier launched an investigation on the matter.
Board Member Jose M. Madanguit, LMT co-chair, said he disagreed with the finding of the IMT.
"They went to the area but the people they asked neither confirm or deny the report [that there was an MILF camp build-up]," Madanguit said, noting the village chief in Barangay Lampari was not around when the IMT conducted the investigation.
The residents were telling them that they should ask the barangay chairman, Madanguit added.
He said the LMT received reports that armed men supposed to be members of the MILF have been moving around and allegedly firing their guns, causing fear among the residents.
In April, the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) passed a resolution urging the MILF to withdraw its forces that have allegedly been setting camps in Barangays Tudok in T'boli and Lampari.
Madanguit said the LMT has confirmed the MILF camp build-up in Barangay Tudok.
It was not clear if the IMT also included Barangay Tudok in their recent investigation.
Von Al Haq, MILF spokesman, denied on Sunday that they have set up camps in the areas identified by South Cotabato officials, although he confirmed they have forces in the jungles of the province and in Sarangani.
He added the presence of MILF fighters in the jungles of Mindanao is a "friendly principle" agreed with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Al Haq claimed the MILF has a base recognized by the AFP. He identified it as Camp Khalid and is somewhere in the boundary of South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces.
South Cotabato officials earlier branded the reported setting up of MILF satellite camps in the area as a violation of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the MILF, which are holding peace negotiations.
"We can't allow them to establish any camp in the province. These have to stop immediately," Pingoy said during the PPOC meeting.
Citing a report by the Army's 27th Infantry Battalion (IB), he said the rebels separately converged in the two areas earlier this year and started building encampment.
Pingoy said around 200 MILF rebels were reportedly spotted by government forces to have been moving toward Barangay Tudok, which is located near the mountainous boundaries of T'boli town in South Cotabato and Maasim in Sarangani province.
Lieutenant Colonel Alexis Noel Bravo, 27th Infantry Battalion commander, earlier said their monitoring showed that around 40 MILF rebels supposedly under its 107th base command initially gathered in Barangay Tudok to establish a camp in the area.
He said the rebels were allegedly led by a certain MILF commander Hams Ottoh Mastura alias “Taruc.”
"They named the camp as Khalid al Wahid and initially conducted trainings and assemblies there," Bravo said. (Bong S. Sarmiento)
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