Folk scared by `show of force' by MILF rebels in seaside Maguindanao town

MAGUINDANAO --- Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front showed force and fired rifles overhead near the police precinct in Parang town on Monday in protest of the arrest of a commander for illegal gun possession.Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello, director of the Maguindanao provincial police, said the incident sent hundreds of innocent villagers running for their lives.Tello said the group of Solaiman Dimatunday, a senior MILF commander in nearby Barira town in Maguindanao, arrived in the town proper of Parang, approached the municipal police station and indiscriminately fired guns overhead.Local officials said the provocation was a serious violation of the government’s 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities with the MILF.The provocation was the group’s apparent response to the arrest on Saturday of another MILF commander for illegal possession of firearm.The suspect, who is related to Dimatunday, was intercepted by personnel of the Regional Public Safety Battalion of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Regio in Muslim Mindanao in Barangay Kalawag in Parang town on Saturday.The MILF rebels who stormed the town center of Parang retreated to another barangay in the municipality through the intercession of local officials.Tello said they are now preparing a formal complaint to the government-MILF ceasefire committee for the misbehavior of Dimatunday and his followers.