Military, MILF issue conflicting claims on Basilan firefight

From the Daily Tribune (Apr 17): Military, MILF issue conflicting claims on Basilan firefight

The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have issued conflicting claims over Monday’s firefight in the outskirts of Basilan province, with the MILF accusing the AFP of undermining the peace process while the military maintained the raid in Tipo-Tipo was not aimed at MILF forces.

In a statement over the MILF Web site, Abbas Salung, a member of the MILF coordinating committee on the cessation of hostilities, said that he reported the incident in Sitio Badja Maluha, Barangay Baguindan to the MILF headquarters in Camp Darapanan.

The MILF leadership reportedly has asked the MILF-CCCH to file the necessary complaint for ceasefire violations.

The MILF peace panel also expressed surprise over the incident.

“There must be something wrong with the government now,” the MILF said in its Web site quoting its peace panel.

Salung claimed that the attack launched by the Army’s 104th Brigade targeted the group of Ustaz Hamzah Sapanton, provincial committee chairman of the MILF.

“The encounter had already ceased but actions must be undertaken by the government to avoid recurrence of the firefight between the government and MILF forces and to prove that the government forces are indeed upholding the policy of the P-Noy government for the primacy of the peace process,” said Salung.

The MILF claimed that the MILF-CCCH and Ad-Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) were never informed by the government security forces of the movements or any activity in Barangay Baguindan, which is a known MILF community.

“Clearly there is a deliberate act to undermine the ceasefire and the peace talks between the government and MILF, which only compounds the increasing doubts of the public over the sincerity of the government in the peace process,” said Ustaz Sapanton as supposedly relayed to Salung.

The military reported that three hours of intermittent firefight erupted in Barangay Silangkum Tipo-Tipo on Monday which started at around 5:30 a.m. and not in Barangay Baguindan as claimed by the MILF.

The military’s Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom), in a statement, stressed that the operation launched by Joint Task Force Basilan was not directed against the MILF.

In fact, the Wesmincom even praised the MILF for “supporting the government initiatives and success of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro because they allowed the said AFP operations to proceed unhampered without any interference from the MILF ranks.”

Col. Carlito Galvez, commander of the Army’s 104th Brigade, said that the military operation targeted the Abu Sayyaf band of Isnilon Hapilon and Furuji Indama.

Yesterday, Galvez claimed that eight Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed during the operation but only two were recovered.

Galvez said that Hapilon was also wounded in the head during the attack.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/nation/item/12989-military-milf-issue-conflicting-claims-on-basilan-firefight