MILF failure to surrender fighters risk to peace deal

From the Manila Bulletin (Feb 22): MILF failure to surrender fighters risk to peace deal

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is unlikely to surrender their fighters who took part in a deadly clash with police last month in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, risking the collapse of a peace accord that seeks to end a four-decade insurgency.

“It’s up to the government to punish its own men, and for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to punish its own,” the group’s chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said in a phone interview from Cotabato City last Friday.

The Muslim fighters acted in self-defense, he said, citing initial results of his group’s investigation of the clash that killed 44 policemen, about 20 MILF rebels and five civilians.

The botched anti-terror operation saw the single biggest loss of life of government forces in recent memory and has cast doubt over the peace process, sparking calls for the resignation of President Aquino.

The commandos were hunting for one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, Bali bomber and Jemaah Islamiyah militant Zulkifli bin Hir,  alyas “Marwan” who initial DNA tests show was killed during the fighting.

While authorities claim police came under ambush by the MILF – who occupy the area where Marwan is believed to have been hiding – the MILF vice chairman gave a different version of events.

“They (rebels) did not ambush the PNP-SAF (commandos),” Ghazali Jaafar told local broadcaster ANC, adding the unannounced police presence gave the rebels the impression that they were under attack.

“The combatants did it in self-defence… On that basis, they did no wrong,” he said.

Civilians who were awakened from their sleep also joined in the fighting, thinking they too were under attack, Jaafar said.

“When a stranger enters your house, and you think your life is in danger, you have to defend yourself,” he added.

Eighteen rebels were also killed during the chaotic 12-hour gun battle.

A finger that police cut from what was believed to be Marwan’s body was sent to the FBI where a preliminary DNA test showed a “possible relationship” with one of the militant’s relatives.

The US had offered a $5-million bounty for Marwan, a Malaysian bomb-maker who had been hiding in the southern Philippines for over a decade.

Jaafar said the MILF were still conducting an internal probe into the incident.

PEACE PROCESS

“If Aquino pushes hard on the justice front, the whole peace process could fall apart given the MILF’s findings of self-defense,” Richard Javad Heydarian, a political science professor at De La Salle University in Manila, said by phone. “If he sidelines concerns with justice to preserve the peace process, he could face a huge public backlash that could undermine his entire legacy.”

Some lawmakers have already withdrawn support for a bill seeking to set up a new Muslim autonomous region with more powers and wealth that is called for in the peace agreement reached in March of last year.

Aquino on February 6 accepted responsibility for the botched police operation, which he said had achieved one of its goals with the killing of Malaysian bomb expert Zulkifli bin Hir, who was on the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list. The president has called on the Moro Islamic leadership to help capture Filipino terrorist suspect Abdul Basit Usman, who was another target of the Jan. 25 raid on a town controlled by the MILF and another rebel group.

“MILF failure to surrender its men once the justice department makes indictments could mean the end of the peace agreement,” Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform in Manila, said in a phone interview. “The peace deal is over once they say they’re not covered by court processes. And this is more than a legal question. It’s now a question of trust.”

DFA CHIEF’S SIDE

Department of Affairs (DFA) Secretary Albert del Rosario said he will seriously consider the Senate’s invitation for him to attend the continuation of the Senate probe on the Mamasapano operation on Monday.

“If we are (invited) we will consider it,” Secretary Del Rosario said.

Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, earlier announced that they have invited the DFA chief to the resumption of the public hearing on Oplan Exodus, the police operation to take down Marwan.

Del Rosario is expected to shed light into reports that the United States government was deeply involved in the planning and implementation of the Jan. 25 operation.

The foreign affairs chief earlier declared that he does not see any problem in any assistance that the Philippines may have received from the US in pursuit of Marwan.

“For me,” Del Rosario said, “it’s not something I’m concerned about because we do need help from everybody, from the rest of responsible nations throughout the world.”

http://www.mb.com.ph/milf-failure-to-surrender-fighters-risk-to-peace-deal/