Opinion: Unsettling realities in quest for lasting peace

Opinion piece posted to the Manila Times (Feb 11, 2023): Unsettling realities in quest for lasting peace (By Maj. Gen. Edgard A. Arevalo, Ret.)

ON Feb, 8, 2023, it was reported in the news that 39 members of the Philippine Army (PA) 1st Special Forces Battalion were actually disarmed and detained by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) 103rd Base Command in Barangay Dilimbayan of Maguing town of Lanao del Sur. The elite troops were freed only after 25 hours and upon the intercession of the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH).

The news report was confirmed by the PA spokesman. In an interview aired over a local radio station, he painstakingly declared that the soldiers were stopped only for "identification purposes" to ensure that they are not members of the New People's Army (NPA) "disguised" as members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). I remember him establishing the point that the soldiers were treated well and were made to stay longer in the MILF camp for further verification. The battalion's personnel, he stated, were in the area as part of follow-up operations against the NPA rebels who were on the run from a series of the AFP's successful operations.

Being once an AFP spokesman, I have been there and done that difficult task of carefully explaining the incident that could otherwise escalate into a serious controversy more than it already is. But the point remains that our soldiers were not allowed to leave when they wanted and until their identities were validated — and that is detention. The fact that they parted with their firearms and belongings as a matter of procedure as can be seen in the picture accompanying the article — that is disarming. And while they were said to have been treated well, I cannot imagine how the soldiers felt for the entire duration that they were inside the MILF camp with armed men in their midst — for 25 hours, according to the report.

I wish our tactical commanders were at liberty to disclose the details of what happened there and the circumstances on how the soldiers were stopped as they were on their way back to their camp. We can only be thankful that there was no armed encounter that happened in the process that would surely result in people killed only to be labeled later as an incident of "misencounter" or another case of "mistaken identity."

Permission to enter their 'territory'

The reason cited by the MILF for the many incidents of "misencounter" or "mistaken identity" is lack of proper coordination (read as permission) prior entering their areas of temporary stay (read as territory). One of the goriest incidents that happened sometime in 2007 was reported in open sources. Some 80 members of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) were ambushed — 14 killed-in-action including 10 of them beheaded — by members of the MILF in Basilan. Mohaqher Iqbal was mentioned by Reuters to have said the MILF lost four fighters and seven were wounded but believes they had killed 25 soldiers, seized 27 assault rifles and destroyed two military trucks. The Marines were after terrorist and bandit Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members who kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi. The clergy was reportedly brought in the area where the MILF's lay claim as their "territory" and at the time that peace negotiations with their group and the government had begun with the 1996 peace agreement.

There were several other incidents of legitimate combat operations conducted by the AFP against the ASG that resulted in armed skirmishes between soldiers and MILF rebels because the area is claimed to be MILF "territory" and there was no proper coordination. Investigations were conducted every time that the peace agreement was deemed to have been violated, but results never came out and the perpetrator remains unpunished.

The most infamous incident that will forever haunt the quest for that elusive peace is the one that happened in Mamasapano in Maguindanao where 44 members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) were killed or "massacred" on that fateful day of Jan. 25, 2015. It was a classic case of "pintakasi" by the MILF and other residents in Barangay Tukanalipao against the "intruders" in their community. On hindsight, it was claimed, the bloodshed could have been averted if only "proper coordination" was made on the ground. But I would argue that it will not have achieved the same result.

Military authorities are therefore caught in a bind as appropriate notices with the MILF ground commanders are now part of pre-operational requirements as in the case of the operating teams of the 1st Special Forces Battalion that had prior coordination directly with the MILF's 103rd Base Command. While the troops were able to accomplish their mission of raiding a reported NPA lair, this is not the usual case. Each time that the military coordinates its impending operations with the MILF, operational security is compromised, and the element of surprise is permanently lost.

While these are the challenges to operational success that military ground commanders must know how to overcome, they nonetheless comply with "proper coordination" in pursuit of the established modus operandi between the MILF and the CCCH.

The road to peace

According to the United Nations, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) lay the groundwork for safeguarding and sustaining the communities to which the individuals return, while building capacity for long-term peace, security and development. Thus, among the most challenging parts of the peace accord between the government and the MILF is DDR.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that there should only be one AFP and one PNP. There is nothing in the fundamental law that limits the areas where the military and the police can operate as they perform their respective constitutional mandates to protect the people, secure the State and maintain law and order anywhere in the four corners of the archipelago. Therefore, the issues on the authority to wield arms and autonomy must be settled in the soonest time possible.

Soldiers and police personnel are mindful as it is a common knowledge that it is easier for MILF fighters to let go off their spouses than their firearms, as the number and caliber of the latter are equated to a man's and a family's statuses. The possession of high-powered firearms, some of those I saw were of intricately curved wooden stocks, is therefore as perennial as grass and is integral into the culture of our fellow Filipinos in Muslim Mindanao.

Military personnel who have been assigned and operated in Central Mindanao and Western Mindanao are aware of the intricacies and complexities of the operational environment in that part of the country. To say the least, there is always the likelihood of military operations spilling to MILF areas for reasons of proximity of their lairs and the existence of blood relations among most members of the MILF, terrorist groups like the ASG and other "peace spoilers." The incidence of pintakasi is a testament to the truism that indeed, blood is thicker than water.

The emergence of peace spoilers remains a challenge. It is from the leadership and the ranks of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) of Nur Misuari where the MILF of Hashim Salamat emerged. And from the MILF came the so-called breakaway group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) founded by Ameril Umbra Kato. With the advocates of peace in Mindanao lies the burden of ensuring that there will be no more such groups that will be "unsatisfied" with the outcome of the peace accord and give rise to new splinter or breakaway groups.

Amid the fact that the stand of the AFP on peace talks and peace negotiations is most of the time heard but unheeded as accords are mainly political decisions, it will always be among the torchbearers of peace. And unlike what many people think, soldiers are not war freaks, blood-thirsty or "utak pulbura" like the enemies of the State had the habit of calling them. The contrary is true, they are the most peace-loving and staunchest advocates of peace. Because while the people reap the dividends of peace, the soldiers pay the highest premium.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2023/02/12/opinion/columns/unsettling-realities-in-quest-for-lasting-peace/1878313