MICHAEL MEDINA
Editor in chief
OZAMIZ CITY--The commander of the MILF’s 102nd Base Command is a hard man to catch, surely embarrassing the military at this point.
From August to January, what the military could only tell media is that the most wanted man in Mindanao is moving from one hiding place to another in the mountains of Lanao.
This is a setback for the armed forces. Truthfully now, does the military really know where Kumander Bravo and his lawless MILF followers are?
October 2008, two months after the bloody siege in Lanao del Norte, Col. Benito De Leon, commander of the 104th Brigade of the 1st (Tabak) Division admitted the AFP does not know where is Bravo’s exact location.
However, he assured that their forces are closing in on Bravo’s hideout. “It is only a matter of time before our men on the ground can catch them,” said de Leon.
October 20-21, 2008, ABS-CBN aired an exclusive interview of the wanted Moro rebel leader Kumander Bravo. The military felt its face slapped. In that interview broadcasted nationwide, Bravo challenged the government to a war of attrition.
Holed up in the homes of their close families and relatives in the hinterlands of Lanao, sometimes mixing with the civilian populace, Bravo remained elusive.
Capturing him isn’t easy, thus admitted Col. Rey Ardo, commanding officer of the 103rd Infantry Brigade based in Campo Ranao, Marawi City.
Bravo, Abdurahman Macapaar in real life, is a hero among the Maranaos. He belongs to a family of warriors in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte and his influence spans in many towns of Lanao del Norte.
When you go to Munai, residents there would tell you that the MILF commander “is a good man.” He reportedly put a stop to cattle rustling, robbery, illegal drugs, illegal gambling and petty crimes in many remote villages in Lanao del Norte.
But the military has a different picture of Kumander Bravo: He is a lawless MILF rebel leader and a “psychotic case.”
In March 2000, he attacked Kauswagan, which fueled the “all-out-war” declaration of President Joseph Estrada against the MILF. Three years later, Bravo and his men assaulted Maigo. After that his name was never mentioned in the news.
October 2006, in the wake of text messages circulating in Lanao del Norte of a forthcoming attack by the MILF, Bravo assured residents: “Dili kamo mahadlok kay wala kami threat sa lugar ninyo. Gusto lang namo mapirmahan ang kasabutan sa GRP-MILF. Gusto lang sa gobyerno nga bahinon ang Lanao del Norte.’
This paper then reported Bravo’s statement in our Oct. 25-31, 2006 issue. In that news report, even Kolambugan mayor Bertrand Lumaque and then PNP Provincial Director Linog Bagul disproved the rumors as false, to the point of boasting the province is “relatively peaceful” and that the text messages were only the work of pranksters.
August 2008, Bravo rampaged Kolambugan and Kauswagan shortly after the government backed out from signing the already initialed Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain with the MILF in Kuala Lumpur.
Bagul was relieved of his post and some 200,000 civilians instantly became internally displaced persons and 62 civilians were reported dead.
A number of Lanao residents hurriedly left homes in the hinterlands and drifted to Iligan and Ozamiz cities while the distance end to end from Kauswagan to Kolambugan became danger zones for almost a month.
The government became angry and put a P10-million bounty for Bravo’s capture. Yet, this cannot entice residents to just hand over Bravo to authorities, Ardo admits—not even adequate to relocate and secure the lives of relatives of those barfaced enough to conspire with the military and tell where he is.
So this is why correct information on the whereabouts of the rogue MILF leader is hard to find among the conflict-affected areas, especially those in Bravo’s turf. Could this be also the reason why it’s taking them long to capture of Bravo and his men?
"No matter how strong and how many troops we have on the field, still the AFP would welcome all the help it could get from the people to help catch Bravo,” Col. Daniel Lucero of the Army’s Civil Military Operation Group (COOG) laments.
“There should be no in between or undecided in this case. It’s either you are for it or you are against it. And we need real time intelligence to be able to capture Kumander Bravo and his group,” Lucero added.
“Even if we only have one squad or one battalion of soldiers, if you give them real time intelligence, we will be sure 100 percent that we will be able to solve this problem. Yet even if we have lots of troops but if nobody supports them, we will not win this war with the lawless MILF group,” Lucero said.
“If you have knowledge about Bravo, feel free to inform the military and the sooner you do it, the better,” sounds the military’s stage campaign.
Lieutenant Col. Agane Adriatico, chief of the Civil Military Operations, said it is actually fear that causes people to withhold information on the whereabouts of the controversial MILF leader.
Bravo, it was learned, now faces a probe by a disciplinary board created by the MILF to look into his role and participation in the attacks in in Lanao del Sur last August.
MILF vice chair Ghazali Jaafar said Bravo and Ameril Umbra Kato, another MILF commander, would face sanction if they were found to have violated the rules of engagement.
The MILF has since refused to surrender Bravo and Kato to the government, asserting that as a rebel organization it does not recognize Philippine laws.
Also, chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal reiterated the MILF’s refusal to give up Bravo and Kato, explaining the ceasefire agreement gives their group the prerogative to deal with its own men accused of violations.
However, DILG Sec. Ronaldo Puno said once the MILF central leadership surrenders Bravo and Kato, a monetary reward of P25 million would be given to the Islamic group, which they could use in developing Muslim communities in Mindanao.