AFP: MILF training camp in Iligan City trumps ceasefire, peace process protocols

From InterAksyon (Mar 20): AFP: MILF training camp in Iligan City trumps ceasefire, peace process protocols

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has violated the ceasefire and peace process protocols based on evidence of its continuous recruitment of fighters and training them at a government property they seized and converted into their training camp in Iligan City, the military said Friday.

According to Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, Public Affairs Office (PAO) chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the government has resorted to an inter-agency mediation protocol to resolve the issue peacefull

A press statement released by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) indicated that it has already begun investigating the case.

OPAPP Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, together with government chief peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, had previously come under fire for "defending" the MILF and blaming the Special Action Force (SAF) in connection with the Mamasapano massacre of 44 police commandos.

Earlier, also, local officials in Iligan city expressed alarm over the influx of indigenous people from different tribes and who were apparently being recruited for military training by the MILF's 103rd Base Command.

Col. Gilbert Gapay, commanding officer of Army's 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, has confirmed this and immediately submitted his report to his superiors for the dismantling of the training camp.

A complaint had been lodged before the Iligan City council by Datu Lantung Ko Limunsudan, or Higaonon chieftain, Deodato S. Abugan Sr.

"They alleged that MILF fighters under Abdul Sango Amoran of the 305th Guerrilla Unit recruited 85 Higaonon tribesmen and Maranaws from Bukidnon and brought them to the camp from May 16 to 31 last year," Cabunoc said.

This was despite the fact that peace process protocols between the government and the MILF strictly prohibit such activities within the framework of the peace process.

The complaint was facilitated by Gapay, who brought his recommendation of dismantling the MILF training camp to the Government of the Philippines Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (GPH CCCH).

"The protest submitted by Colonel Gapay to GPH CCCH will be acted upon through the conduct of a Joint Site Verification Mission composed by the Joint GPH-MILF CCCH and Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), International Monitoring Team, and The Provincial Local Monitoring Team, Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Post and representatives from local government units, tribal elders and the non-government organization Non-violent Peace Force," Cabunoc said.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/107356/afp-milf-training-camp-in-iligan-city-trumps-ceasefire-peace-process-protocols