Remove MILF ability to wage war and ensure total AFP, PNP control of units - generals

From InterAksyon (Jan 28): Remove MILF ability to wage war and ensure total AFP, PNP control of units - generals

In the wake of the deaths of 40 police commandos in Maguindanao on Sunday, an association of retired and active generals on Wednesday demanded that the peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front be stripped of any “capability … to wage war against the government.”

At the same time, the Association of General and Flag Officers, said it “opposes the creation of any security force not under the total command and control of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) or the PNP (Philippine National Police) whose authority emanates from the powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief.”

Mystery continues to shroud who ordered the botched mission by the Special Action Force in Mamasapano town ostensibly to get wanted terrorist bombers Zulkifli bin Hir, or “Marwan,” a Malaysian, and the Filipino Abdul Basit Usman, who have a total bounty of $7 million from the US, after both Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and acting PNP chief Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina admitted being kept in the dark on the operation.

The military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, who should have been informed of any government operation in territory it controls under a ceasefire and peace agreement, also said the SAF had not coordinated with them.

Retired general Edilberto Adan, AGFO president, condemned the Mamasapao incident, calling it “a heinous, barbaric massacre that cannot be justified even under the current protocols of the peace process between the government and the MILF” as he called for “a swift, independent investigation to exact responsibility and demand justice for the law enforcers.”

AGFO also urged the declaration of a whole week of national mourning, with flags flown at half-staff, “to show the abhorrence of the nation and show support to the rule of law and the nation’s men in uniform.”

It said the government “should demand the return of all firearms stolen from the dead policemen and for the MILF leadership to surrender the perpetrators within their ranks.”

At the same time, the group said the Mamasapano incident “underscores deeply the need to examine closely the security implications of any final agreement with any armed rebel group like the MILF,” citing the 2011 ambush of Army Scout Rangersin Al Barka, Basilan “and many other skirmishes.”

These, and the failure to “take disciplinary action” against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters when the splinter group broke away from its ranks, said the AGFO, prove the MILF “cannot or has limited control over some of its forces and has rogue commanders over whom they have no real authority.”

“The MILF leadership must prove that it exercises authority and discipline over its commanders. Since the objective is peace, the government should be talking with the entity that has control of elements who can wage war,” Adan stressed.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/103924/remove-milf-ability-to-wage-war-and-ensure-total-afp-pnp-control-of-units---generals