Marwan, Usman had 'peaceful co-existence' with MILF in Mamasapano - sources

From InterAksyon (Feb 8): Marwan, Usman had 'peaceful co-existence' with MILF in Mamasapano - sources



Not coddling, just "peaceful co-existence." That sums up, say sources from the intelligence community, the state of affairs between two wanted terrorists who took sanctuary in Moro rebel-controlled territory, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that is now under pressure to explain their presence. The MILF is also being held to account for the "slaughter" of 44 police commandos on an anti-terrorist mission last Jan. 25, and to surrender the policemen's high-powered weapons that rebels seized.

Technically speaking, the MILF - which is in a cease-fire agreement with the military while the Bangsamoro peace process is in transition - did not "coddle" the Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, or his Filipino cohort Abdul Basit Usman, bomb-making experts whom a 300-man Special Action Force team was deployed to apprehend in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, the sources said.

However, the 105th Base Command of the MILF based in Tukanalipao village - where 35 of the 44 slain SAF men were killed - knew that Marwan and Usman were hiding out with the MILF's supposed breakaway force, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in neighboring Pidsandawan, according to sources from the intelligence community.

It was an arrangement that the two sources described as a “peaceful coexistence.” The sources spoke on condition they or the units they work in are not named.

Marwan is believed to have been killed by the SAF, but 44 highly trained commandos from the blocking force, including six young officers, died after running out of ammunition in a 10-hour gunbattle that pitted them against hundreds of well-armed MILF rebels and the BIFF.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which conducted DNA tests on a biological sample taken from a body believed to be that of Marwan, said this has yet to be confirmed with certainty, although there was an initial match with samples taken from a brother of Marwan who is detained in a California facility.

Usman escaped at the height of the Jan. 25 firefight. On Friday, President Benigno Aquino III warned the MILF in a televised address to the nation to give up Usman to the government, or stand aside while it gets Usman, or be "run over" by State forces.

One of Interaksyon.com's sources explained the problematic relationship between the terrorists - wanted for the 2002 Bali bombings and several other attacks around Southeast Asia - and the Moro rebels.

“Hindi sila kina-coddle in a way na nasa loob sila ng kampo ng MILF, but they are within the vicinity pero hindi pinapakialaman or hindi sila hinahabol (The terrorists are not coddled in the sense that they are not, strictly speaking, inside the MILF camp; but they are within the vicinity and they are not pursued).”

If the MILF rebels wanted to, he added, “they could.”

Close ties to BIFF

The sources noted that, unlike other MILF units, the 105th Base Command has close ties to the BIFF, which was founded by Ameril Umbra Kato, the former 105th commander.

In 2008, Kato's group broke away from the main organization over differences in the direction peace negotiations were taking.

Many of Kato's fighters are also related to the MILF 105th unit’s fighters.

Other MILF units have not been quite receptive to Marwan since the peace negotiations with government began gaining ground, the sources acknowledged.

Marwan and other Jema'ah Islamiyah terror ring members were told to leave the stronghold of the MILF’s 103rd Base Command in Butig, Lanao del Sur in 2013, said one source.

The problem is this, though: once “outside the barangay, hindi na nila pinapakialaman (the terrorists were pretty much left alone).”

Marwan had once trained members of the so-called “Special Operations Group,” to which Usman once belonged, said the source.  Besides Usman's links to the BIFF, this matter also explains why the terrorists took sanctuary in Mamasapano. The town may be described as truly Usman's “power base"

Sincerity doubted

Meanwhile, the fact that Marwan had based himself so close to an MILF camp cast a shadow on the rebel group’s sincerity to forge lasting peace, said the second source.

There are widespread calls in Congress and other quarters to suspend all deliberations on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which these critics say will confer unprecedented powers on a group (MILF) that not only gave asylum to terrorists, but also ended up killing dozens of law enforcers sent out to get the two men.
“Paano sila (Marwan and Usman) nabubuhay diyan kung hindi binabantayan at pinapayagan (How could they live there if they were not being protected or tolerated)?” the second source asked aloud.

How the terrorists could “just come in and out, in and out” in a place where “any new face immediately sends out an alarm),” is truly bothersome, he noted. “Matagal na sila diyan, kilala sila, may mga bahay na nga sila diyan (They have been there long, they are known there, they even have houses there).”

Still, he acknowledged that the close relationships between the fighters of the BIFF and 105th Base Command rested on a fragile, “very fine line.”

“May mga kunwaring BIFF ‘pag hapon, MILF ‘pag umaga. Ganu’n ang sitwasyong diyan (There are those who pretend to be BIFF in the afternoon, MILF in the morning. That’s the situation there),” he said, adding that "they have their own rackets, extorting from others, or setting up individual forms of livelihood).”

MILF's Jaafar: definitely no ties to Marwan

For his part, the MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar categorically denied any links between the MILF and Marwan.

“No, categorically no,” he said when asked if it was possible that MILF elements could have been coddling Marwan without their leadership’s knowledge. “No, no they cannot do that.”

Asked how come Marwan and Usman managed to hide out so close to MILF territory, he replied, “Malayo naman, malayo (It’s actually far, far),” although he could not say how far. A special investigating team the MILF created would look into that distance, among others.

He claimed he did not know anything about  the BIFF’s coddling of Marwan and Usman.

Will the MILF cooperate with authorities in the investigations of the Mamasapano incident, Jaafar replied: “Generally, kami (we) sincerely, seriously, sinusunod namin ang lahat ng (observe all the) provisions ngagreement na nilagdaan namin (of the agreement we signed) with the government, therefore we will comply with our responsibilities, our obligations based on the agreement we signed.”

The MILF side believes the government has been complying with its commitments under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which governs their relationship until a Bangsamoro Basic Law is enacted. This, despite the failure of the PNP-SAF to coordinate with the MILF in the Mamasapano mission - a matter the MILF claims caused the bloody clashes between the SAF and MILF fighters.

At least 18 MILF fighters and four civilians were also killed in Mamasapano.

“Kung minsan nangyayari ‘yan, pero hindi ibig sabihin e hindi nila tinatalima ‘yung (Sometimes these things happen, but it doesn’t mean they don’t comply with the) agreement,” he said. He described the circumstances that led to the carnage as “lapses.”

Meanwhile, the MILF has yet to issue an  official response to President Benigno Aquino III’s second address to the nation on Mamasapano last Friday. He had told the MILF to either give up Usman or stand aside when the government moves to get the wanted terrorist.

"We still don’t have an answer … we still have no reply to everything he said,” said Jaafar, speaking in Filipino.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/104634/marwan-usman-had-peaceful-co-existence-with-milf-in-mamasapano---sources