MILF-CCCH denies reports of near armed encounter between PNP and MILF in Maguindanao

ALEX LOPEZ
COTABATO CITY
March 24, 2015

“The reports of near armed encounter between the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) last March 14 in Maguindanao is not true.”

This was clarified to the media by Omar Bayao of the Coordinating Committee for the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) of the MILF.

Reports of near encounter between the PNP, particularly the Special Action Force (SAF) and the MILF 106th Command in Old Maganoy, in the town of Abdula Sangki in Maguindanao started to spread especially in the social media since last week.

In an interview with the local radio stations in Cotabato City, Bayao said the reported near armed encounter is false due to the well-placed coordination between the government and the MILF in the area.

“There was a prior coordination between the PNP and the MILF CCCH before they entered the area,” Bayao pointed out, adding that the PNP’s intention in going to Old Maganoy was to check the reported evacuation of civilians in Sitio Bulod.

Bayao also denied the report that the policemen were made to raise their hands up at gunpoint by MILF fighters.

“This is completely false. No untoward incident took place on that date between the police and the MILF in Old Maganoy,” Bayao emphasized.

He said that the PNP elements who entered the area were members of the Regional Mobile Group (RMG) from the province of Maguindanao and not members of SAF as reported in the social media.

Bayao added that upon receiving the coordination of the PNP-RMG, they immediately dispatched the information to the local monitoring team in the area to assist the PNP in their objective.

“It is impossible that a near encounter between the police and the MILF would happen because the police operation was properly coordinated with us and to the local command of the MILF,” Bayao clarified.

Bayao also called on the public to be vigilant especially against reports and stories appearing in the social media that are not clarified to concerned authorities. RANAO STAR