“Where is he now?” seconded his colleague in the Sangguniang Panlungsod, lawyer Moises Dalisay.
Abdurahman Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), led that attack on civilian communities in Kauswagan and Kolambugan towns of Lanao del Norte August 18 last year.
He also led the attack in neighboring Maigo town in 2003 and in occupying the municipal hall of Kauswagan in March 2000, which sparked the “all-out-war” declared by former President Joseph Estrada shortly after.
Bravo launched last year’s attacks after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order barring the Philippine government from signing the already initialled Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in Kuala Lumpur.
MILF Chair Al-haj Murad Ebrahim had told civil society that they would conduct a “unilateral investigation” on the actions of Bravo and his counterpart in the Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces, Umbra Kato, October last year but results of the investigation on the “rogue” commander remain unknown.
Carino Antequisa, who has been supportive of grassroot-based peace-building processes in the Lanao area, said “that’s the new MILF brand of investigation.” But he admitted he does not know the MILF’s process in conducting the investigation.
Nobody has yet dared disclose Bravo’s secret lair despite the P10-million reward offered by government.
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Alexander Yano told officials in his recent visit here “that Bravo wants to survive, that’s why he is hiding.”
Col. Benito de Leon, commanding officer of the104th Infantry Brigade, whose soldiers occupy the MILF lairs in the towns of Poona Piagapo and Nunungan, has also said that “the arrest of Bravo would all depend on the assistance from civilian communities. (Violeta M. Gloria / MindaNews)