The military offensive unleashed in
MNLF spokesman
Emmanuel Fontanilla said the emergence of the Justice for Islamic Movement
(JIM) in Central Mindanao is an indication of
the realignment of armed groups targeted by an ongoing military offensive.
The Bangsamoro
Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), though painted as a breakaway group of the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that has forged a peace agreement with the
government, will now fight side by side with JIM against the military,
Fontanilla said.
As part of
tradition, every Muslim owns a gun and will defend his community if attacked,
he said.
“Only women,
children and elderly go to evacuation centers; able-bodied men will join the
fight,” he said.
Fontanilla said
JIM is among several armed groups operating in Mindanao
and the failure of the government to reach out to them drove them to form
tactical alliances with other groups and tribal communities that are also a
force to reckon with.
The selective
peace talks with the MILF, which according to Fontanilla are actually a divide
and rule tactic by the government, are now taking their toll with the emergence
of a united front in Mindanao .
“A united front
is now emerging, BIFF, JIM and other groups will join the fight if the military
will continue its offensive,” he said.
Because of strong
blood ties, the MILF will not fight against their brothers and relatives, and
in a worst-case scenario, they might even join the fray to protect their
communities.
Fontanilla,
however, said the MNLF would not join the new alliance because it has already
renounced armed struggle in attaining their political objective.
The MNLF forged a
peace agreement with the government in 1996.
“The MNLF will
just be a passive observer but it will also protect their communities if
attacked,” Fontanilla warned.
Malacañang said
government is ready to confront the JIM as the offensive against the BIFF and
the Abu Sayyaf continued.
Presidential
Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. on Thursday said
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was doing its duty to monitor the
activities of different armed groups.
He added the
military was continuously coordinating with the MILF to check the movements of
different armed groups in their strongholds in Mindanao .
The ongoing
offensives and operations by the military against the BIFF that are being carried
out in areas known to the MILF now also target the JIM.
Coloma said the
JIM would pose a challenge to the peace process, the reason solidarity or unity
of all stakeholders is important to push it forward.
The military
offensives, however, have displaced thousands of civilians in Central
Mindanao .
Although tension
has waned in some towns where the military and Muslim rebels are locked in a
face-off for a week now, evacuees are reluctant to return to the homes they
hastily abandoned for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.
The provincial
board of Maguindanao declared 36 towns under a state of calamity to hasten
delivery of relief and rehabilitation services to thousands of displaced
villagers in squalid evacuation centers.
Lynette
Estandarte, chief budget officer of Maguindanao, said about 90 percent of
evacuees affected by the ongoing military operations rely on farming as their
main source of income.
“They were forced
to leave their farms unattended for fear of an outbreak of hostilities between
the BIFF and pursuing military forces,” Estandarte said.
“Tension in some
areas has started to deescalate, but the evacuees are reluctant to return home
for security reasons,” she added.
The Department of
Health (DOH) said they have not recorded any disease outbreaks in the
evacuation centers for civilians displaced by the fighting in Maguindanao.
DOH spokesman
Lyndon Lee Suy gave assurance that the department has sent teams of experts to
look into the health conditions of evacuees.
On the other
hand, Department of Education regional director Allan Farnazo appealed to the
military to protect the schoolchildren in their operations against the BIFF.
Farnazo also
appealed to the BIFF to be sensitive to the rights of the students.
“We urged both
the warring parties to avoid the students to be casualties of your wars. Don’t
bring your gun battle near the schools,” he said.
Farnazo urged the
military to avoid using the schools in Pikit town as operation bases or command
centers to avoid being attacked by the BIFF.
They should also
consider public schools as “zones of peace,” he added.
Despite security
concerns, investments are up in the region, according to officials of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which includes Maguindanao.
According to the
ARMM regional investment board, two companies based in the island town of Panglima Sugala
Tawi-Tawian
Petroleum is into importation and distribution of petroleum products while Chan
C Mining is engaged in mining and quarrying of nickel ore for export to China
ARMM Gov. Mujiv
Hataman said investors’ confidence in the region is still high.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/03/07/15/biff-putting-united-front-other-groups
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