Philippine Rebellion Ends in Surrender : Mindanao: A renegade colonel gives himself up, and government forces recover two military camps on southern island.

A renegade colonel who led a revolt on the Philippines’ second-largest island surrendered today after trying to sneak out of the military garrison he seized two days earlier, government officials said.

It was the seventh military rebellion crushed during President Corazon Aquino’s 4 1/2-year-old government.

Col. Alexander Noble surrendered unconditionally at 3 a.m. to Sen. Aquilino Pimentel on Mindanao Island, said Pimentel and military Chief of Staff Gen. Renato de Villa.

Government troops were rounding up Noble’s followers “group by group,” De Villa said.

“The small disruption in northern Mindanao is over,” De Villa said. “We have recovered the camps that they seized. We are normalizing the conditions in these two cities.”

Noble and his forces launched their rebellion early Thursday, seizing military camps in Butuan and Cagayan de Oro and proclaiming independence for Mindanao. Cagayan de Oro is 500 miles south-southeast of Manila.

Noble and another renegade officer tried to sneak out of Camp Evangelista, headquarters of the 4th Infantry Division, before dawn today but changed their minds and gave themselves up to Pimentel, De Villa said.

De Villa said Noble’s followers in Butuan, 70 miles northeast of Cagayan de Oro, had surrendered. The report could not be immediately confirmed.

It was unclear how many of Noble’s troops were already in custody. De Villa said in a radio interview that the rebels “may surrender to priests, the church or any civilian they trust.”

“I am warning Noble’s other forces: Do not fight back because the situation is over,” De Villa said.

He was apparently referring to mutineers in Iligan and elsewhere who had declared their allegiance to Noble.

De Villa said he had also been contacted by the division commander, Brig. Gen. Miguel Sol. Sol disappeared soon after the takeover and was “temporarily” relieved.

De Villa quoted Sol as saying he had “escaped” Noble’s troops and wanted to return to government control.

Pimentel, a former mayor of Cagayan de Oro, flew to the city Friday to offer himself as a negotiator to end the crisis.

During a radio interview, Pimentel confirmed that Noble had surrendered to him. He said he would accompany Noble to Manila later today and said the colonel would be handed over to military authorities.

“They want me to continue their cause for Mindanao, which is for the national government to give enough attention,” Pimentel said. “I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

De Villa said the whereabouts of one of Noble’s civilian allies, Reuben Canoy, were unknown but that troops were searching for him. Canoy, a former mayor of Cagayan de Oro, is the leader of a self-styled Mindanao Independence Movement.

Military officials here suspected that Noble’s goal was not independence for Mindanao but to create a diversion. They suspected that Noble wanted to force the government to deploy troops from Manila.

Military dissidents would then strike in the capital and try to topple the government.

Troops were placed on full alert in Manila and garrisons in the capital were reinforced. But there was no sign of any unusual troop movements here.

It appeared that Noble gave up after realizing that his mutiny had not led to any general uprising on Mindanao or in the Manila area.

Earlier Friday, about 150 elite Scout Rangers from the 23rd Infantry Battalion in the Mindanao city of Iligan had declared their allegiance to Noble. Local journalists said the Rangers joined the revolt because of an air raid Thursday on their garrison.

Military officials said government planes fired on the camp while attacking and destroying a rebel helicopter. Late Friday, the mutinous Rangers left their camp and marched to the heart of Iligan, where they planned to camp overnight.

Government forces did not attempt to stop them to avoid a firefight in the industrial center.

Earlier in the day, Noble offered to negotiate with the Aquino government and later met for about 90 minutes with local clerics.

Aquino’s administration has come under increasing criticism for failure to provide basic services and to maintain law and order.

Noble was formerly chief of staff of Aquino’s guard force, but he turned against her and joined a coup attempt last December.