TWO weeks ago the military carried out a frenzy of air strikes and artillery bombardment on the reported positions of a breakaway group of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Liguasan Marsh before ground troops moved in to capture what was described as a bomb-making facility of the terrorists.
The primary objective was to seize the primary source of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for Central Mindanao, neutralize the bomb experts of the group tagged as a believer of the international terrorist group Islamic State (IS), and degrade its capability to carry out terrorism. This was subsequently transformed into one of the most difficult battles for soldiers, the terrain being suited only for those with specialized war-fighting skills and training.
Elusive targets
As in past operations in the area, some of the identified targets of the battle made good their escape from the pursuing soldiers by negotiating the marshy terrain of Liguasan, of which, they are very well familiar with, before losing themselves in the company of innocent villagers who lived in the adjacent and surrounding villages.
For the longest time, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has been working to rid Liguasan of teeming Moro fighters, some of whom are alternately called secessionists, fundamentalists and terrorists.
What makes the marshland different from the other objects of operations by the military in Mindanao is it hosts a combination of groups from the BIFF, the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and yes, civilians.
The terrain
Liguasan Marsh, a large swathe made up of mud, water, sandbars and lands, covers an area of 220, 000 hectares that straddle the territories of South Cotabato, Maguindanao and North Cotabato.
According to military public affairs office chief Col. Noel Detoyato, the marshland is very fertile for planting crops, which makes it “very inviting” for civilian habitation.
Detoyato said the rich patches of lands of Liguasan grow one of the best varieties of corn and rice in the country, with the villagers cultivating what is locally called as tapul or denorado for avid staple consumers.
“The grains of tapul are colored red,” he said.
Detoyato, who spent his younger years in the military operating against Moro bandits in the area and in the whole of Central Mindanao—apart from being born and raised in South Cotabato—said the terrain of Liguasan is a very difficult, even a hostile, course for operating troops.
“The water in the marshy areas sometimes goes up to knee-deep or even rises up to the chest or even higher, depending on the season,” he said.
Sometimes, its expanse of sandbars, and even lands, disappears and reappears.
‘Filthy’ rich marshland
Detoyato said that occupants of the marshland, including its settled villages, have already mastered its routes; and they use bancas as a means of primary transportation and in moving from one area to another to another.
“They don’t walk, they use boats. They are very familiar with the rivers in going to municipalities,” he said.
Detoyato said the Liguasan Marsh, especially the Rio de Grande River, which cuts through it, was even used by the Spaniards centuries ago in going into the heartland of Mindanao.
The muddy terrain of Liguasan helped the creation of the Riverine Unit of the Army Special Forces, whose first sets of watercraft were donated by Australia several years ago under the country’s Status of Visiting Forces Agreement with Canberra.
Liguasan is literally a “filthy” rich marshland that some even called it the “Arab heartland” of the Moros in Mindanao, comparing it to the oil-rich territories that were snatched by the IS in its rampage in Iraq and Syria.
Blood-drenched
The marshland has the same tale as those of the areas taken and lost by the IS: it is drenched in blood, it is the hotbed of extremism, and it reportedly contains a combination of oil and natural gas.
However, Detoyato said it is not the deposits that sit beneath Liguasan that drives the military operations against the lawless elements in the area. It is the desire of the government to get rid of terrorism and end threat groups that continue to challenge the government, he said.
Oil, natgas deposits
Detoyato said that, while there may be reports of oil and natural gas in Liguasan, the amount of deposits is “inconclusive.”
“The oil there is young, and as to how big the deposit is, it is inconclusive,” he said.
Reports about the presence of natural gas in the marshland were buoyed by information that some residents who lived in the surrounding municipalities have their water pipes spew with fire when lighted.
“In Kabuntalan, Maguindanao, there’s a water pipe where natural gas comes out. If lighted, it creates fire,” Detoyato said.
Similar discoveries were also reported in Sultan sa Barongis in the same province, and even in Tantangan, South Cotabato.
The presence of gas deposits in Maguindanao was confirmed by the Tukanakuden Oil Exploration project by the Philippine National Oil Co. in 1997, and whose drilling equipment were secured by Detoyato and his team then.
However, Detoyato could not give the results of the explorations.
Reports said the drilling operations, held in the barangay of Tukanakuden in Maguindanao, unearthed a composition of 99 percent of methane gas with small traces of ethane gas.
The same composition of gas was also discovered at Barangay Kulambog, also in Maguindanao.
“Liguasan Marsh will benefit the Moros and all the residents that live within and even in the surrounding areas and provinces if it really has oil deposits. It will be put into good use,” said Detoyato.
In the years since the first comprehensive peace agreement was forged with Moro rebels in 1996 during the Ramos administration, various research teams from several countries that supported the post-agreement development program were reported to have been deployed to Liguasan, sparking speculation that, indeed, the marsh may be holding a lot of resources.
But if Detoyato’s report is to be taken as basis, the recent military operations are purely for peace and order, nothing more.
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