March 31, 2011 - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is in the last stretch of its internal dialogue with Ameril Omra Kato to determine whether he will continue or forego with his so-called Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

“Time is ticking out very fast and a decision is definitely forthcoming.”

This was the statement of Muhammad Ameen, secretary of the MILF Central Committee, in an interview with the www.luwaran.com recently.

Asked about the prospect of Kato’s returning to the MILF’s fold, he said, “Let us cross our fingers; I don’t know, but intense negotiation is still ongoing.”

Kato, 76, had joined the MILF in 1993, barely six years after the late MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim returned from Lahore, Pakistan in December 1987.

Before this period, Kato studied in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia taking up Islamic course, and thereafter, returned to Mindanao and taught for many years in Davao City and Davao Oriental. He was also a missionary of the Saudi Arabian government, but his contract was terminated after his role in the post-MOA-AD fighting was exposed by the media.

Compared to the senior members of the MILF, political and military, Kato, although much older, is new to the organization. Murad Ebrahim, Alim Abduladziz Mimbantas, Ghazali Jaafar, Mohagher Iqbal, Sammy Al-Mansoor, Gordon Saifullah, Adan Abdullah, Jack Abas, Von Al-Haq, Benjie Midtimbang, Toks Ebrahim, Eid Kabalu, and many more, joined first the MNLF in 1971-1975, and then MILF in 1977. All of them saw and participated in the bloodiest part of the Moro revolutionary struggle, particularly in the years from 1972-1975.

In January 2005, Kato and some military commanders of the MILF’s 105th Base Command were suspended for one year by the MILF Central Committee after they willfully violated the GPH-MILF Ceasefire Agreement on the pretext of getting even after government troops killed one of his men, Abdulrahman Bides, in Palembang, Sultan Kudarat earlier.

Abdulrahman Bides is the namesake of the original Abdulrahman Bides, a half-Ilocano and a graduate of Saudi Arabia, one of the early Moro leaders who died in the service of the struggle.

Based on his various interviews with media, Kato’s line is: No ceasefire; no negotiation with the government, and the end state is independence.

He accused the MILF leadership of revisionism by drifting away from the original path set for the MILF by the late founder, Salamat Hashim.

The MILF Central Committee countered by saying that the thoughts of Salamat Hashim including his ideological and political lines are contained in the book he had written, “The Bangsamoro Mujahid: His Objectives and Responsibilities. It challenged everyone including Kato to examine this book in order to determine whether the present MILF leadership under Al Haj Murad Ebrahim is swerving away from Salamat’s teachings.

The MILF Central Committee is on track to republish this book, including the minor revisions made by Salamat before he died on July 13, 2003.

The MILF information committee will directly handle the publication.