MILF welcomes reopening of Mamasapano probe

From the Manila Bulletin (Jan 26): MILF welcomes reopening of Mamasapano probe

Mamasapano, Maguindanao – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) welcomed here yesterday President Duterte’s plan to create a fact finding body to probe thoroughly the bloody clash that left  66 persons dead on January 25, 2015 here.

“It will hopefully pave the way for wider scope of justice, not only for the fallen 44 (members of Special Action Force or SAF) but also for the 17 Moro fighters and five civilians,” a field leader of the MILF said.

The source, who asked not to be named, pointed out that the non-SAF victims in the tragedy were “human beings too” and must similarly get justice.

Relatives of the slain SAF members and three cause-oriented groups picketed in front of the Ombudsman’s office in Quezon City on Wednesday, the second year anniversary of the Mamasapano tragedy to demand the prompt filing of charges against prominent personalities including former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III for his role in the deployment of the police commandos here that resulted in the slaughter of the 44 troopers.

Villagers and resident-civilian, police and military personalities here took exception to the notion that only the SAF 44 fatalities deserve justice, noting that the national government had substantially provided material indemnifications to families of the slain police commandos.

They blamed former President Aquino, former Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Alan Purisima and the SAF leadership for staging the operations against Marwan without coordination with the local police, military and even the MILF as prescribed in the rebel front’s existing peace deals and truce protocols.

Central Mindanao-based peace and human rights groups said the “biggest collateral damage” that Aquino should be asked to answer was the legislation of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which the 16th Congress substantially altered and shelved later as a result of the bungled operation against Marwan.

“Painstaking efforts, time and huge government resources for peace building with the MILF have been wasted in the aftermath of the tragedy. And there’s nobody to blame but Mr. Aquino. The Marwan operation was treachery on his part in relation to the Mindanao peace process,” Moro youth peace advocate Alibai Indaila said.

Supporters of the MILF-GPH peace process from the provincial government of Maguindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said President Duterte should immediately create the fact-finding body.

They said the fact finding body could flesh out President Duterte’s often-repeated desire to correct “historical injustices” among the Bangsamoro people.

http://news.mb.com.ph/2017/01/26/milf-welcomes-reopening-of-mamasapano-probe/