MILF holds kidnap suspect for probe Inquirer Mindanao
July 05, 2009
COTABATO CITY—The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Friday admitted that it has in its custody a suspected leader of the Pentagon Gang that was behind a series of kidnappings here.
Eid Kabalu, MILF civil-military affairs chief, said the rebel group took custody of Mohaimen Abo, a former disc jockey of an FM radio station here.
Supt. Willy Dangane, city police chief, said Abo was positively identified by two suspects that police had arrested in connection with the recent kidnapping of a four-year-old scion of a Filipino-Chinese trader here.
Dangane said Abo heads a Pentagon faction that counts as members some employees of the Land Transportation Office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
MILF relative
Kabalu said the suspect is a brother of a key MILF leader.
He said this was one reason the MILF started an investigation of Abo’s alleged involvement in kidnappings in the city and nearby areas, including last month’s abduction of a vacationing mainland Chinese national in Kabacan, North Cotabato.
He said another reason the MILF decided to step in and take Abo in custody was the fact that the police recovered military uniforms with MILF insignia from his gang’s hideout here during a raid.
He said it created an impression that the MILF was behind the abductions.
Kabalu did not say how long the investigation of Abo would last and what the MILF would do if he would be found guilty.
In the past, the MILF executed by firing squad several men found guilty of various offenses by a Sharia court that the rebel group runs.
Rebel justice
Before the MILF’s Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao fell during the government’s all out offensive in 2000, its jail there had about 20 inmates waiting for sentencing.
Kabalu said there would be no white-wash in the MILF investigation even if Abo was a relative of a ranking rebel leader.
Peace talks between the government and MILF are at a standstill, but Rafael Seguis, chief government negotiator, said they could resume soon.
Seguis said the government and MILF were ready to sit down anew, after the negotiations collapsed due to last year’s failed signing of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD).
The MOA-AD, which the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional, would have given the MILF a larger area of control under an autonomous setup.
He said the reconstitution of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), which monitors the ceasefire agreement, has also started.
Seguis said the government and the MILF have also agreed on the need for “international guarantors.”
But Seguis would not say when the talks would actually start, adding that it depends on Malaysia.
“We are just waiting for the go-signal of the Malaysian government,” Seguis said.
