Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Coordinating Committee
on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) head Rasid Ladiasan on Tuesday said that
the MILF is not a terrorist group nor associated with the Bangsamoro Islamic
Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
Ladiasan made this clarification after Senate Majority
Leader Alan Peter Cayetano manifested during the Senate inquiry on the
Mamasapano encounter that the MILF is coddling terrorists, including Malaysian
bomb expert Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and BIFF commander Basit Usman.
”We are not terrorist, the MILF. We have been fighting
terrorism in all forms through the peace process,” Ladiasan told the joint
Senate committees on peace public order, peace, unification and reconciliation,
and finance.
Cayetano said Marwan has been in the MILF area for the last
four years and associated with Umbra Kato, commander of the BIFF who, along
with the MILF elements, engaged in a deadly firefight with the Special Action
Forces (SAF) commandos last Jan. 29 in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
”I will stand pat on this belief. The reason we are here and
the reason why we are mourning is because of the MILF and how they coddle
terrorist,” Cayetano said.
”We have no association with the BIFF. They are separate
(group). They don’t believe in peace process and we are committed to peace
process,” Ladiasan said.
Ladiasan said the MILF will not sacrifice the more than 17
years of efforts to achieve peace in Mindanao .
”I will not allow to lose this opportunity for peace. We
will act accordingly, respond accordingly,” Ladiasan said.
Ladiasan thanked Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
(OPAPP) Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles and Government Peace Negotiating Panel
chairperson Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer for keeping their faith in the peace
process.
During the hearing, Deles has requested for an executive
session with the CCCH to provide more light exactly on the relationship between
the MILF and the BIFF.
Cayetano objected, asking “why can’t the public know what
the relationship of the MILF and the BIFF is?”
Senator Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero intervened, saying Cayetano
was just manifesting and it should be the MILF leadership that should explain
on the concerns of Cayetano.
”I don’t think the MILF is here to speak and I don’t think
it (executive session) is right and I will not sit down and listen to it,”
Escudero said.
Escudero suggested that Ferrer should clarify with the MILF
officials if they are willing to attend the Senate inquiry.
”They have said they will come. They have not said they will
not come. They have also been coming to the senate and congress with respect to
deliberations on the Bangsamoro Basic Law,” Ferrer answered.
Earlier, Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) chair
Mohagher Iqbal has assured the MILF is fully committed to cooperate with the
Senate in the search for truth and justice.
In his letter to Senate panel chairperson Grace Poe, Iqbal
said the MILF will appear in the Senate hearing once the findings of its
Special Investigation Commission (SIC) is finished.
Ferrer said the continuation of peace talks with the MILF
has always been coordinated with the government’s intelligence units.
”There would be a transformation and all of those actions
are happening now, that includes the decommissioning being put into place where
there are targeted actions,” Ferrer said.
”They (MILF) are facing the Senate. They are just asking for
a little bit more time and certainly we fully respect the Senate in saying it
needs to be sooner, it needs to be now,” she said.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=734446
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