BIFF targets vital installations in N. Cotabato; security tightened

NORTH COTABATO , Philippines   â€“Government troops tightened security yesterday around vital power installations in the province that are vulnerable to attacks by members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

Chief Inspector Jordine Maribojo of the Kabacan police said local officials tapped community elders to help prevent a repeat of Thursday night’s bombing of a power relay pylon of the National Grid Corp. (NGCP) in Barangay Kayaga.

Investigators said the bandits used improvised explosive devices to topple NGCP’s tower No. 141 in Sitio Malabuaya in Barangay Kayaga, Kabacan.

A blackout later hit 37 barangays in Cotabato City and nearby towns in Maguindanao.

More than 10 power towers in North Cotabato with high-tension wires have been sabotaged since 2000. The cables connect the province and parts of Central Mindanao to the state-run hydro-electric plant in Bukidnon.

Maribojo said police intelligence operatives, backed by civilian volunteers, are now positioned in strategic spots in Kayaga to help village officials monitor possible attacks by the BIFF.

France Capulong, spokesperson for NGCP, told Catholic radio dxMS in Cotabato City that they are now supplying power to the affected areas in Central Mindanao through its relay facility in Tacurong City, southeast of Central Mindanao, as a temporary measure.

Capulong said engineers from Davao City will be dispatched to Barangay Kayaga to repair the damaged tower.

“Our workers did not go to the area Thursday night because of security constraints,” Capulong told dxMS via mobile phone.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the soldiers from units of the 603rd Brigade, which has jurisdiction over North Cotabato, and members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit have  been deployed in villages where there are power towers and relay facilities.

The bombers, believed to be members of the outlawed BIFF, toppled tower No.141 of the NGCP in Barangay Kayaga using improvised explosives set off from a distance.

The rebels are also engaged in extortion activities.

Captain Tony Bulao, spokesman for the Army’s 603rd Brigade, said the attack was an apparent retaliation after the military foiled last Thursday an attempt by the BIFF to occupy a stretch of highway connecting M’lang and Tulunan towns in North Cotabato.

Soldiers dispersed the rebels who had occupied a portion of the highway in Barangay Tibao in M’lang after a three-hour firefight.

Marauding BIFF bandits laid siege on farming enclaves in North Cotabato’s Midsayap town last Monday, where they held hostage some 30 people for more than 10 hours to forestall an Army counterattack.

The bandits also beheaded a farmer, the 31-year-old Ricarte Dionio, and executed another, Erwin Vinluan, 22, as they escaped Tuesday dawn, leaving their hostages, 13 of them public school teachers, behind.

Bulao said Army units in North Cotabato were immediately placed on full alert after the NGCP’s tower was bombed.