The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) assured Bohol official that no rescue efforts to save some seven, more or less, Abu Sayyaf stragglers, believed to be still in hiding following the siege in sitio Ilaya, barangay Napo, Inabanga, Bohol.

 Provincial Board Member Ricky Masamayor (1st district) bared this after his visit to his native land in Libak, Sultan Kudarat province in Mindanao, (where he was born) purposely to meet with Moro group commanders and requested them not to extend aid to the Abu Sayyaf who intruded Bohol for what is believed to launch kidnap-for-ransom spree in Bohol.

 One of the three commanders, whose identities he declined to name, is the classmate of his father. Masamayor’s father runs a business in said province.

 And the commanders assured him that no rescue or aid for saving the Abu Sayyaf, including Bohol native Joselito Melloria, despite the fact that the bandits are mostly former MILF or MNLF members, he said.

 Abu Sayyaf group (ASG) criminal activities are “purely for money” since they don’t fight for principle or whatever causes, political or otherwise, Masamayor said after he learned this from the Moro commanders themselves.

 He said that because of need of money, some of the MILF and MNLF combatants are tempted to join the ASG. MILF and MNLF do not give wages or salaries to its combatants because they fight for a cause, he added.

 Masamayor also tried to talk to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter (BIFF) commanders but failed.

 When asked if the ASG bandits have connection with or pledged allegiance to ISIS, Masamayor, said he has not come across to that point during his huddle with the Moro commanders.

 Masamayor, who chairs the provincial board peace/order committee, said that he was told that Melloria was on a mission, sort of initiation, as part of training in his bid to lead the ASG.

 Based on report of Bohol Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Melloria was sighted as barangay Cawayan, Inabanga, Bohol, nearby barangay Napo, “specifically at the house of Noel Niño.” Inabanga police and provincial police force verified the said area. But no details yet come out as of this writing.

 Melloria, a native of said barangay (Napo) where the firefight took place married a Muslim woman in Zamboanga, whose father was one of the Abu leaders, barangay Napo chairman Columbus Estoce said.

 CIDG’s report signed by PS/Insp. Edwin Mateo Lacostales and being read by Masamayor during the session said that manhunt for Abu Sayyaf stragglers continues even as Special Forces are conducting mobile patrol in the area.