Pwede naman pala hindi mag giyera eh

[artpogi]

This story was taken from www.inq7.net
http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.ph...story_id=58833

MILF, gov't forces rescue 2 kidnap victims
First posted 02:04am (Mla time) Dec 05, 2005
By Luige A. del Puerto
Inquirer

IN A RARE joint operation, Moro guerrillas and government forces rescued two kidnapped teachers yesterday in Piagapo town, Lanao del Sur province.

"The mujahideen would surely get us," the bandits who snatched couple Felipe and Helen Lacunias were heard saying when they learned that hundreds of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters had cornered them, according to Marine Brigadier General Benjamin Dolorfino.

Before daybreak, the bandits, who had demanded an unspecified ransom, abandoned the couple in a hut in Barangay Pantar. Civilians guided the couple to the MILF under Commander Bravo, who then turned them over to the Marines.

"They (couple) were OK. They were not wounded. Not a single shot was fired," MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu told the Inquirer on the phone.

The MILF has been waging a bloody war for Moro self-rule in Mindanao for decades. It has been holding Malaysian-brokered peace talks with the government and forged a truce with the military two years ago, considerably easing years of deadly clashes.

The MILF and the government had agreed to help each other in the pursuit of criminals in areas where the MILF exerts strong influence.

Abducted in Marawi

The couple, who both teach at the Lanao National College of Arts and Trade in Marawi City, were abducted by two armed men as they left the campus on Friday afternoon. They were brought to Piagapo town.

Word of the abduction flew fast as soldiers under Dolorfino began pursuing the bandits.

The MILF in the area learned of the abduction and mobilized some 1,000 men to find the bandits, according to Kabalu.

The military said two MILF bases were involved in one of the biggest anticrime operations of the rebel group this year.

Blocking force

By nightfall, some 1,000 rebels had the bandits cornered as Marines and policemen acted as blocking forces in Piagapo, MILF and government officials said.

"The mayor of the town told us the bandits had sent surrender feelers. But we did not push through with the negotiation because it was nighttime already," Dolorfino said on the phone.

Quoting Felipe Lacunias, the Marine official said the bandits could monitor radio dispatchers among MILF men who were pursuing them.

"They knew they were cornered. Knowing that, they lost hope and panicked. They said, 'Patay tayo sa mga mujahideen nito (The mujahideen would surely get us),'" Dolorfino said.

Taking advantage of the cover of darkness, the bandits escaped and left the couple unharmed.

Sight to behold

The turnover of the couple on a highway in Piagapo was a "sight to behold," Dolorfino said. "There were MILF rebels, government soldiers and policemen, and we were not fighting," he said.

"This shows our sincere commitment to help the government in going after criminals," Kabalu said.

Coordination between the police and military, on one hand, and the MILF, on the other, was done through the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group. The body was set up to pool the resources of the government and the rebel group not only in combating criminality but also in eliminating misencounters.

The Lacuniases were later brought to the International Monitoring Team office in Iligan City where they were reunited with their relatives. With a report from Associated Press

*2005 www.inq7.net all rights reserved

[jasonub]

On Target : Now, who’s biased?

First posted 03:25am (Mla time) Dec 06, 2005
By Ramon Tulfo
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on Page A17 of the December 6, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


YESTERDAY’S front-page news item said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and government forces undertook a joint operation to “rescue” husband-and-wife teachers from Moro bandits in Lanao del Sur.

As long as the couple, Felipe and Helen Lacunias, were unharmed when they were “rescued,” the MILF and the government can make up a story and the public will just pretend to nod in belief.

I put the word “rescued” in quotation marks because there was no real rescue.

Why? Because the people who kidnapped the couple were MILF members.

In short, it was a sham.

The government forces sought the help of the MILF in rescuing the kidnap victims, knowing that the rebels were holding the couple.

The MILF went through the motions of “mobilizing” all its forces in Lanao del Sur to go after the kidnappers.

Of course, the kidnappers were already told beforehand by their MILF commanders to release their victims. And they did.

That’s why when the “bandits” were
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cornered, there was not a single shot fired.
And the alleged bandits were able to escape.

Who could have escaped from a 1,000-man dragnet supposedly put up by the MILF against the kidnappers?

Well, all’s well that ends well.

* * *

A Moro leader, who heads a Muslim organization, said I’m biased against Muslims.

This leader asked my editors in the Inquirer to fire me because of my supposed bigotry.

Here’s my reply to that Muslim leader:

Bigotry is a two-way street. The non-Muslims in Mindanao are biased against the Muslims because the Muslims are biased against the Christians.

Here’s why: Educated Muslims and religious leaders are to blame for the Muslim bias against the Christians. They don’t disabuse the minds of some of their brethren that the Crusades are ancient history.

In the Middle Ages, the Christians launched campaigns for the recovery of the Holy Land which was then in the hands of Muslims.

These infamous campaigns, now called the Crusades, pitted Christian soldiers against Muslim warriors.

But since educated Muslims and imams want to hold their poor constituents by the neck, they still teach them the “holy war or jihad.”

Muslim society being feudalistic, many Muslims are practically held in bondage by their educated and religious leaders.

I once asked an unenlightened Muslim why there was bad blood between Filipino Muslims and their Christian brothers. His reply: “Kasi kumampi kayo sa mga Kastila (Because you sided with the Spaniards).”

Another misconception foisted by educated and religious Muslims on their brethren: Christians are dirty not only because they use paper in wiping themselves but also because they eat pork.

Now, who’s biased?

[mazdamazda]

Hehehe... na counter agad yung unang post!

Dapat na delete yang jihad na yan sa Koran...

[BlueBimmer]

i wonder if muslims here watched Kingdom of Heaven hehe

[ranod55]

sino kaya ang nagsasabi ng totoo? ang alam ko lang siguradong kanya-kanya papel at palabas! para narin showbiz,he,he,he...

[yebo]

palagay ko nga milf din nag-kidnap dyan. tapos huli sila ng afp so para hindi ma-derail yung ongoing peace talks e hiningi na lang na balato yung hostages. kunwari joint rescue pero palabas lang. dating gawa na ng milf yan kidnappings. parang npa din, revolutionary tax tapos pag di ka nagbayad dedbol ka. sa milf pag di ka nagbigay kidnap ka.

[artpogi]

Well I wouldn't be surprised if what Tulfo was claiming is true.

But wouldn't it be nice if it's not.

[theveed]

dapat abolish ang religion...

[4wrider]

Religious tolerance should be two-way. Besides, if we can elevate the education and alleviate poverty in any religious group, for sure mababawasan yang away away. Look at Bin-laden, a multi millionaire, he had to go to the poorest countries to recruit his terrorists.

[the_wildthing]

Wika nga ni Jack Nicholson, playing the President of the US in "Mars Attacks",

Why can't we all just get along?

:D

My grandmother and some of my older relatives always said we are lucky not to have lived in a time of world war. War is never good.

OT: Nice link, but don't know how accurate: http://www.battlingbastardsbataan.com/som.htm