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/
