MILF: Editorial -- MILF ready to aid Duterte in war vs drugs

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Jul 8): Editorial -- MILF ready to aid Duterte in war vs drugs

About a year before President Rodrigo Duterte was sworn into office, the MILF had already embarked on its war on drugs especially shabu (methamphetamine). It had identified hundreds to thousands of drug pushers especially in Central Mindanao and saved so many users or addicts from further destruction. Its campaign slogan is: “Shabu is haram and the roots of all evils.” For this, the MILF has not only achieved some successes but also earned praises from many sectors including Christian leaders in nearby provinces.

But this campaign has many limitations to enable it to achieve more positive results. First, while morally speaking, anyone has the responsibility to stop evils, but legally, government has always argued that this responsibility falls into its domain. A non-state armed actor such as the MILF should stay away from it. In response, the MILF had told the government that while it is not a state but the drug menace is already destroying the future of the Bangsamoro people and hence should be confronted head on. It assured government that its campaign against drugs would not breach any of the provisions of the ceasefire agreement. Second, the MILF has very limited resources and facilities to rehabilitate drug addicts and to punish drug pushers. Third, most of the supplies of drugs are coming from areas where the MILF has the least of influence. In order to effectively neutralize if not to stop this trafficking is to plug the source. And fourth, some of those engaged in drug trafficking are in one way or the other holding government positions; in fact, several of them won during the recent elections using drug monies to buy votes. Narco-politics does not exempt the Moro areas.

But despite these limitations, the MILF proceeded. To it, while success matters but this war on drugs is a matter of moral obligation, as stated above. Anyone who does not exert any effort, big or small, to halt this menace will reap severe punishment in the Day Hereafter. Shabu is haram, which means, it is a prohibited commodity, and hence to use it is a sinful act. In many aspects, shabu is more evil than liquor; and if Islam prohibits Muslim to drink, transport, and sell liquor, then how much more for drugs which is more damaging to the mind and body of a person.  

With the election of Duterte, as president of this country, and his hard-line policy on drugs, the campaign of the MILF against drugs finds comfort. In fact, a possible understanding or arrangement can be worked out. This can be done through the existing mechanisms of the peace process such as the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) and the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), whose mandates are “to interdict and isolate kidnap-for-ransom groups and other criminal gangs operating in MILF areas and communities” and to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, respectively.  Kidnapping in Central Mindanao has been effectively neutralized --- thanks to the MILF and government AHJAGs, and except the January 25, 2015 tragic Mamasapano incident, compliance to the ceasefire agreement by both parties is almost perfect. In many of their activities, the AHJAG and CCCH worked in tandem.

But in such an eventuality, the MILF’s stand is that any action on this drug scourge should not only be legal but must necessarily be morally sound and justified. And moreover, the greater challenge in this campaign is not to secure hundreds to thousands of pushers and users surrendering but to ensure that the sources, the pushers, and users are effectively contained. There are no pushers if there are no sources and no users if there are no pushers, although sometimes, the sources and pushers are one and the same people. More seriously, many sources are not citizens of this country.

http://www.luwaran.com/home/index.php/editorial/24-january-8-15-2016/798-the-milf-war-on-drugs