AFP officials say MILF ordered $2-M in arms from Nokor spy

By FERNAN MARASIGAN TODAY Reporter

The officials said the rebels also plan to purchase mini submarines to augment its fighting capability.

These orders and plans were revealed, the military added, by documents seized from the house of MILF chairman Salamat Hashim, when the military overran the rebel camp in Buliok Complex in Pikit. North Cotabato. Copies of the documents were released to mediamen by the Armed Forces Thursday.

Among the documents seized by the Marines included receipts and purchase orders allegedly signed by Gadzali Jafaar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, a certain Rim Jyu Do and a certain HS Ahmmad.

Rim is said to be a ranking North Korean intelligence officer, who is also allegedly engaged in arms-smuggling.

Documents released by the military showed that Jaafar made the payment in the form of checks with No. 096301 amounting to $400,000; and No. 09632 amounting to $800,000 -- both inclusive of freight services for the armaments.

Besides this, the military also discovered a receipt in the amount of $1 million that serves as a partial payment for the purchase of military hardware amounting to $2,196,250.

Salamat, according to the documents, approved Jaafar’s memorandum for the MILF’s order to Rim for the procurement of millions of rounds of ammunition for M30 machineguns; 10,000 pieces of T65K2 M-16 rifles; 200 pieces of T75 assault machineguns, one million rounds of T65K2 armored pricing bullets; 250,000 rounds of tracer bullets for M-16 rifles and 250,000 rounds of M-16 ammunition for training; and 1,000 different types of handgrenades.

“As far as arms acquisition is concerned, the MILF funneled several millions for their impending procurement of military hardware and war materiél, such as individual automatic weapons, crew-served weapons, various types of hand grenades and explosives and midget submarines,” Armed Forces spokesman Col. Essel Soriano told a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo Thursday afternoon.

Soriano said the military is trying to verify if the weapons ordered by Jaafar have been delivered to the rebels.

The same document disclosed that the MILF has set five objectives in its offensive operations -- all-out war against government forces through simultaneous and relentless attacks; massive sabotage operations; ambush of military/police checkpoints; conduct of checkpoints and hostaging; and arms landing.

“Recovered documents revealed that the MILF had been strengthening its military arm by conducting basic military trainings and specialization courses to recruit new members,” Soriano said. “This only proves that the MILF is indeed preparing for war and using the talks on peace agreement as cover,” Soriano added.

The Armed Forces and the defense department are preparing documents for the filing of charges against Salamat and his key lieutenants for arms smuggling and other illegal activities.

Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya, chief of the Armed Forces Southern Command, said Thursday that the evidence from Buliok complex shows the MILF is no different from the Abu Sayyaf.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol said he and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte are among the MILF’s targets for assassination.

“They [MILF] still continue to profess that they are acting like a rebel group. But they have been showing us, so far, that they are already engaged in terroristic activities which victimize innocent civilians,” Abaya told Today.

Abaya declined to comment whether it is time to declare the MILF as a terrorist organization: “I’m not the one who should give that tag-terrorist,” noting that the New People’s Army (NPA) was declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by Europe and America.

“Since we do not have yet an antiterrorism bill, there will be a question on what would a terrorist tag on the MILF mean,” he said. With B. Garcia Jr.