Solons want AMLAC to clamp down on MILF funding sources

MANILA, Philippines—Lawmakers want the Anti-Money Laundering Council and other intelligence bodies to clamp down on the international funding sources of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front after it was revealed that the late strongman Moammar Gadhafi  has been bankrolling their decades-old rebellion.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said the government should step up its intelligence efforts to track the foreign money funding the Moro rebellion, which has been costing the government billions of pesos in military expenses and thousands of civilian and military lives lost in their encounters.

Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon said that the military intelligence should be put to task on how the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front has been able to get international funding to sustain its secessionist movement since the 1970s.

Two muslim rebel leaders—former MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu and former assemblyman Macabangkit Lanto—have admitted in separate media interviews that MILF was among the beneficiaries of Ghadafi’s money since the 1970s. Authorities are currently scouring the globe for hidden assets of the recently slain Libyan leader including rebel groups that benefited from his largesse.

“How come they have let this international funding go on? Where will they get new international funding sources now that Ghadafi is dead and Osama Bin Laden is gone? We thought Hashim Salamat is the life of the MILF but even when he died, the funding from abroad still continued,” Biazon said in a phone interview.

Angara said the government should demand full transparency from the MILF negotiations and demand that they bare their financiers.

“It would be ideal for them to reveal these sources but quite frankly I doubt the MILF will ever do so,’’ said Angara in a text message.

Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe said that while revealing the MILF financiers would contribute to the confidence-building process, it behooved the military intelligence forces to have established these financiers and cut these off years ago.

“Any government with a respectable intelligence network would certainly know the sources of support of insurgents and would naturally institute measures to neutralize such support. Whatever the MILF will reveal is supposed to be already known by our government. Otherwise, we really have a serious problem with our national security,” said Batocabe.