Agencies
Cotabato City
 

The death toll in attacks carried out by outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) on Christmas Eve rose to 13 — nine civilians and four rebels — officials said yesterday.
After killing seven civilians in the borders of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat provinces on Thursday dawn, the BIFF attacked a Catholic chapel in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato and gunned down a village councilman at about 9pm, Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
Another dead farmer was found in the borders of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat.
Led by BIFF Commander Abonawas Alamada, the armed men attacked the house of Robert Latosa, village councilman of Barangay Simsiman, Pigcawayan, North Cotabato by firing rocket propelled grenades, killing him on the spot.
Two BIFF groups also simultaneously attacked a 38th Infantry Battalion detachment by firing rifle grenades and a Catholic chapel where a midnight Mass was ongoing, sending Mass goers scampering for safety. Nobody was hurt in the chapel attack.
The attacks were over in five minutes, civilians in Barangay Simsiman said.
Almost at the same time, another band of BIFF harassed a detachment of second Mechanized Infantry Battalion in Barangay Dapiawan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao. The Army retaliated by firing rocket rifle grenades, forcing the bandits to flee. Nobody was hurt.
Instead of celebrating Christmas in their respective detachments, soldiers of the 33rdInfantry Battalion spent their Christmas Eve in the battlefield in the mountains of Abdullah Sangki and Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
Soldiers and policemen admitted they had to hurdle threats of booby traps left by BIFF in and around the areas where five civilian farmers were killed.
Lt Colonel Ricky Bunayog, 33rd Infantry Battalion commander, said another farmer was found dead in the village of Paitan, Datu Abdulla Sangki, Maguindanao on Christmas Day or about 10 hours after the BIFF launched the offensive.
“One of their field commanders was killed that is why they were so brutal on civilians,” Bunayog said.
“We have recovered four improvised bombs in the area. Relatives of the slain farmers said those who went to spray chemicals in the farmlands in Barangay Kauran were hired farmers who wanted to earn money for the “Noche Buena.”  They would have been paid after the job to ensure they have money to buy dinner for Christmas Eve,” he said.
“Now they are all gone, and we celebrate Christmas here at the funeral parlour,” Reme Demo, a relative told reporters in Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat. He said the fatalities were all farmers and not CAFGU (Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit) as claimed by the BIFF.
“They were all civilians, they were not armed,” Demo stressed.
Earlier, Abu Misry Mama, speaking for the BIFF, admitted to the atrocities but stressed they were only after para-military and soldiers in the areas where they carried out the attacks.
“We target the armed CAFGU and soldiers; we spare civilians,” Mama said. When told there were civilian casualties, Mama said, they were among those considered as “collateral damage.”
Salome Alsgar, wife of Gerard Alsgar who was killed by attackers in the village of Paitan, said the BIFF assured her husband will not be harmed.
Alsgar and his son were taken hostage by the BIFF and used as “human shields.”
“They do not want us to leave, nine of us, my husband and four other farmers and my five-year-old son,” she said.
“The soldiers are running after us, if they stop, you can go,” she quoted the BIFF as telling her.
She and her son then were set free and allowed to walk for about five minutes then she heard a series of gun burst.
“They killed my husband and his companions,” she said.
Bunayog said the number of BIFF was “surprisingly big” with about 300 men attacking a remote village and “hitting anyone seen in their escape route.”
Four BIFF dead bodies and four firearms were recovered by soldiers during clearing
operations.