MILF uneasy over members indicted for Mamasapano clash

From the Sun Star-Cagayan de Oro (Aug 27): MILF uneasy over members indicted for Mamasapano clash

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) felt uneasy with the filing of criminal charges against several of its members for the death of police commandos January 25 last year in an operation that killed Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias "Marwan" in his lair in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

“Old wounds should not be reopened anymore. They should be allowed to rest because even a slight touch will only rip them open,” the MILF, which has forged a peace pact with government, said in a statement.

“We are not saying that government cannot proceed in filing these cases... But our only wish is that for a government to be a just government, they should apply justice fairly to all,” the group added.

The tragedy claimed the lives of 44 elite cops, 17 Moro guerrillas, and five civilians, and precipitated a national controversy that stalled the implementation of the peace pact between government and the MILF.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered last week the filing of charges of direct assault with murder against individuals allegedly involved in the encounter with police commandos.

These include five commanders of the MILF’s armed wing Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) identified as Abdulrahman Abdulrakman Upan, Rakman, Refy Guiaman, Anife, and Haumves alias Haves, and 83 others.

The charges are for the deaths of 35 of the 44 slain commandos.

The DOJ resolution cited accounts of witnesses that the 55th Special Action Company (SAC) was maintaining a defensive perimeter but the respondents allegedly continued to fire shots at them. It further said that the Moro armed men knew that they were engaging police officers in a gun battle.

While the DOJ sees the incident through the lenses of criminal justice, the MILF wants that it be viewed as a violation of the ceasefire agreement it forged with government to avoid unnecessary hostilities until such time that a peace pact secures the end of its rebellion.

The group explained that its members were forced into a gunfight as a matter of survival as the "attackers" came under the cover of darkness “that they did not know who were attacking them” and whom they are engaged in a fire fight with.

“Weren’t the SAF commandoes not the attackers, ceasefire offenders, and which branded a partner in peace, the MILF, as enemy?” the MILF said.

It noted that before the tragic incident, “the ceasefire agreement between government and MILF forces was holding firmly.”

Zero violation

“In fact, violation was almost zero since President Benigno Aquino III assumed office in 2010,” the group noted.

The MILF lamented that “in their planning and in the execution, the SAF (Special Action Forces) deliberately and ignored the ceasefire agreement.”

Then SAF director Getulio Napeñas admitted bypassing the ceasefire mechanism because he did not trust the MILF to cooperate and to also avoid leakage of the plan which could lead to Marwan escaping from the authorities’ dragnet yet again as happened in previous operations.

The MILF pointed out that had the SAF used the available ceasefire mechanisms in the operation, the risks would have been controlled and the tragedy could have been avoided.

“The SAF... were operating in an area heavily occupied by MILF combatants and supporters. There were also other armed groups, including the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, in the vicinity. Therefore the extent of the risks of the operation was enormous and known very well,” the rebel group said.

“But it seemed the smell of success --and the lure of dollars--rode roughshod over all other considerations,” the MILF stressed.

$5-M bounty

Marwan carried a $5 million bounty from the United States Rewards for Justice Program, which gives incentives for neutralizing terrorists throughout the world.
President Rodrigo Duterte himself pointed to the “greed” for the bounty as the underlying cause for the bungled police operation.

“The scapegoat had thus to be found. The MILF was the ready whipping boy,” the MILF said.

“But was it right for the SAF to blame the MILF for the blunder? The MILF was the one attacked, it merely defended itself,” it added.

The MILF said it leaves the handling of the matter to Mr. Duterte’s “wisdom” and “full grasp of what is just and what is fair play.”

“We believe that when President Rodrigo Duterte repeatedly acknowledged that historic injustice was committed against the Moros (by the state), he was not only referring to the loss of their sovereignty and landholdings, and the death of thousands of Moros in the series of bloody massacres perpetrated against them by state forces, but also of the unfair application of justice,” the MILF added.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2016/08/27/milf-uneasy-over-members-indicted-mamasapano-clash-494019