{"id":46888,"date":"2015-04-14T14:39:23","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T06:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=46888"},"modified":"2015-09-20T14:38:27","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T06:38:27","slug":"biff-founding-chair-ameril-umbra-kato-dies-of-cardiac-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/04\/14\/biff-founding-chair-ameril-umbra-kato-dies-of-cardiac-arrest\/","title":{"rendered":"BIFF founding chair Ameril Umbra Kato dies of cardiac arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ameril<\/a>
Ameril Umbra Kato, founder of the Bansamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

COTABATO CITY\u00a0— The founding chair of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) is dead, rebel leaders and local officials today confirmed.<\/p>\n

Mohaqher Iqbal, chief negotiator of the MILF, said Uztadz Ameril Umra Kato died at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. He could not say where.<\/p>\n

“Our information was he passed away due to cardiac arrest,” Iqbal told reporters.<\/p>\n

Mayor Samsodin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao also confirmed the death of Kato.<\/p>\n

Quoting Kato\u2019s relatives and close allies, Dimaukom said the BIFF founding chair suffered a cardiac arrest at 2:30 a.m. today in his hideout in a remote village of Guindulungan, Maguindanao.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis relatives confirmed to me that he succumbed to cardiac arrest,\u201d Dimaukom said, adding that the 78 year old renegade leader also suffered a mild stroke last two years ago.<\/p>\n

Dimaukom said relatives and friends, including BIFF members, are now attending to his remains in an undisclosed area in Guindulungan.<\/p>\n

Kato will be buried within 24 hours from the time he died according to Islamic tradition.<\/p>\n

Dimaukom could not say where is the remain of Kato right now nor where is his final resting place.<\/p>\n

BIFF spokesperson Abu Misry Mama confirmed that the group\u2019s founding chair has died. He refused to reveal Kato\u2019s location except saying the area is far and that communication is difficult.<\/p>\n

“I am on my way there to pay my last respect,” Mama said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n

Ustadz Wahid Tundok, commander of 118th base command of the MILF, also confirmed reports that Kato, his former superior in the MILF 105th base command, indeed passed away.<\/p>\n

Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the 6th Infantry Division based in Maguindanao, said he received reports about Kato’s death but it is being verified by his troops on the ground.<\/p>\n

Kato, then head of MILF\u2019s 105th base command, bolted from the MILF and formed his BIFF to pursue the armed struggle for the establishment of an Islamic State in Mindanao.<\/p>\n

Dismayed by the botched signing of the GPH-MILF Memorandum of agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in 2008, Kato’s men, then still with the MILF, attacked Christian communities bordering Maguindanao and North Cotabato.<\/p>\n

Kato was a foreign trained guerilla having fought side by side with the Afgans against the Soviets in the 70s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COTABATO CITY\u00a0— The founding chair of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) is dead, rebel leaders and local officials …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":13945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","mauthors-edwin-o-fernandez","mauthors-noel-y-punzalan","mauthors-philippines-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}