Military and police operatives have arrested three suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Maguindanao who were allegedly found carrying improvised bombs while about to board a Manila-bound ferry, security officials disclosed yesterday. Chief Superintendent Jose Goltiao, the Autonomous Region in Muslim MindanaoÂ’s police chief, said the three men were apprehended Sunday afternoon outside the SuperFerry 3 docked in Parang town in Maguindanao. Goltiao identified the alleged members of the MILFÂ’s special operations group as Razak Macarimbang, 46; Wahad Sandigan, 34; and Sammy Gampong, 26. They were allegedly carrying two homemade bombs and claimed they had been ordered to conduct bombings in Metro Manila. The men have been detained by the Philippine Army while police are preparing a complaint for illegal possession of explosives, Goltiao said. Maj. Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana, the newly designated chief of the militaryÂ’s Eastern Mindanao Command, said the arrests were the result of security forcesÂ’ continuing operations against possible terrorist attacks.
The MILF has denied any involvement in any planned bombings. "They are not MILF members," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said. He said a ceasefire between the MILF and the government — which have been holding peace talks to end decades of Muslim insurgency in the southern Philippines — "is very much in place and everybody is trying to ensure that it continues to hold." Goltiao earlier said the men were suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf group, but he later said that investigations showed the men, all from Maguindanao, appeared to be part of the MILF special operations group.