From MindaNews (Jun 29, 2023): GPH-Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace implementing panels to meet on Datu Paglas 7 and transition-related issues (By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS)
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 29 June) – The Peace Implementing Panels of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will meet on Saturday, July 1 to discuss transition-related issues such as decommissioning and the June 18 law enforcement operation in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao del Sur where seven persons were killed. The government claimed the victims were members of the ISIS-inspired Karialan faction of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) while the MILF claimed the victims were their members.Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez told MindaNews in a telephone interview Wednesday night that the Saturday meeting is expected to thresh out matters to further advance the peace process.
The Peace Implementing Panels are chaired by retired Brig. Gen. Cesar Yano for the government and Mohagher Iqbal for the MILF. Iqbal is the incumbent Minister for Basic Higher and Technical Education of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Datu Paglas Mayor Abubakar Paglas (center) addresses members of a fact-finding mission as he points to an area in the mosque in the Husain compound in Barangay Madidis where a grenade reportedly exploded and where two of the seven persons killed in a raid on June 18, 2023 were found. The fact-finding mission initiated by Bantay Ceasefire went to the crime site on 27 June 2023 accompanied by the mayor. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
The meeting is also in response to the June 20 resolution of the MILF Central Committee that called on the national government to act on four proposed action points following what it described as a “horrific incident” that killed seven of their members. The four proposals are to “urgently undertake an impartial, honest, credible and fair fact-finding investigation by a third-party investigator; sanction the immediate return of the International Monitoring Team to ensure that ceasefire is preserved; genuinely and sincerely implement all aspects of the Normalization process; and immediately convene within July 2023, the Joint Peace Implementing Panels of the GPH and the MILF in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in keeping with the signed agreements, and towards efforts of resolving diverging views on some aspects of implementation.”
Galvez said the meeting will not be in Kuala Lumpur but in Davao City.
He added that as the local peace process mechanisms are being tapped to verify what really happened in Datu Paglas, the Cabinet’s Security, Justice and Peace sector has recommended that the Department of Justice, through the National Bureau of Investigation will conduct the investigation, with the Bangsamoro Human Rights Commission and the Commission on Human Rights.
Galvez noted that other government agencies involved in the law enforcement operation are also conducting their internal investigations.
On June 26, Senator Robin Padilla, chair of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs, filed a resolution asking the Senate to conduct a probe into possible violations of the GPH-MILF peace agreement in the Datu Paglas operation.
Law enforcement operation
Armed with search warrants issued on June 16 by Judge Aniceto Rasalan, operatives from the police and military proceeded to the Husain compound in the early hours of June 18 but were reportedly met by gunfire. The operatives fired back, resulting in what Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, regional commander of the Police Regional Office in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) described as “a fierce firefight that lasted more than an hour and half.”
A member of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police was wounded in the operation.
The operatives were supposed to search the compound where brothers Nasser Yousef Husain alias Tutin Usop and Norjihad Husain alias Datdat Usop lived. The two are allegedly members of the BIFF Karialan faction.
In his report to the chief of the Philippine National Police in Maguindanao del Sur, Captain Nurhjasier Sali, acting chief of police of Datu Paglas, said the brothers were “original members” of the BIFF Karialan Faction under the leadership of the Mohiden Animbang aka ‘Karialan’ that operates in the two provinces of Maguindanao, referring to del Sur and del Norte. Nasser, the report said, was a “former battalion commander” of the BIFF faction.
The two are sons of Commander TMX, which Sali’s report said was a “Division Commander of the BIFF-KF.”
The report further said the father and sons “received IED (improvised explosive device) training from the late Basit Usman in Mamasapano, Maguindanao” and were involved in the bombing of the National Grid Corporation tower in Barangay Kitulaan, Carmen, North Cotabato on September 3, 2016.
According to the report, they were also involved in the May 8, 2021 attack in the Datu Paglas public market which displaced some 5,000 civilians and “provided manpower, armaments, logistics, food staff (sic), and served as guides from Liguasan Marsh to Datu Paglas proper during the said attack,” and were also affiliated with a kidnap for ransom gang under Tahir Alonto that was behind the kidnapping and drug-related activities in Maguindanao del Sur. The report claimed the two had direct contact with Sukarno Hamdan aka Shiek, “BIFF Field Commander under BIFF-Karialan faction.”
Fact-finding mission
Datu Paglas Mayor Datu Abubakar Paglas told members of a fact-finding mission (FFM) on June 27 that the seven victims were members of the MILF National Guard, not BIFF members. He also called for an independent probe.
The FFM was initiated by Bantay Ceasefire, a group of volunteers from the communities and civil society organizations that has been monitoring the ceasefire between government and the MILF since 2002.
The FFM members interviewed the mayor, the police chief and the barangay captain and visited the Husain compound.
Bantay Ceasefire volunteer Mary Ann Arnado, now a Member of Parliament in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) asked police chief Sali if there are BIFF elements in his area of responsibility, Sali cited the 2021 incident but “as of now, wala” (none).
The mayor lamented that while they had recovered from what happened in May 2021, reports that the seven victims were BIFF members are affecting the image of his town and could drive away investors and potential investors.
“Walang Freedom dito” (There is no Freedom here), the mayor said. “Freedom” is the term used to refer to the BIFF. Mayor Paglas said the seven victims were MILF members and two of them were his relatives.
Sali assumed the post of acting police chief on June 16. He told the FFM that he was informed at 10 p.m. on June 17 that a law enforcement operation would be undertaken in his area but no details were provided. He said he received a phone call from a Captain Cepeda of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) at 2:28 a.m. on June 18 that they need assistance because there was resistance in their serving the search warrants.
“Isolated case”
Sali said he and his police arrived in the compound shortly after 3 a.m. but waited outside the fenced compound. He said they were tasked to “evacuate” the seven persons who were pronounced dead upon arrival at the provincial hospital in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat province.
Mayor Paglas said the operatives did not coordinate with the local government unit, not even with the barangay captain of Madidis, Nasrudin Nawal. He clarified the barangay where the Husain compound is located is Madidis and not Damawato as reported by operatives.
Nawal told the FFM that he learned about the operation only when he was awakened by gunshots. He lives about a hundred meters away. Two of the victims were his relatives.
Galvez said the government side of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), a peace process mechanism created in 2002, sent a letter to its MILF counterpart on June 15 about the law enforcement operations that would be launched against the BIFF, drug syndicates and lawless armed groups in several areas in some provinces. Two of the areas mentioned in the letter are barangays Madidis and Damawato.
Galvez maintains that what happened in Datu Paglas is “an isolated case” and he looks forward to the July 1 meeting of the peace implementing panels to attend to this issue and the other issues that need the panels’ attention. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
The meeting is also in response to the June 20 resolution of the MILF Central Committee that called on the national government to act on four proposed action points following what it described as a “horrific incident” that killed seven of their members. The four proposals are to “urgently undertake an impartial, honest, credible and fair fact-finding investigation by a third-party investigator; sanction the immediate return of the International Monitoring Team to ensure that ceasefire is preserved; genuinely and sincerely implement all aspects of the Normalization process; and immediately convene within July 2023, the Joint Peace Implementing Panels of the GPH and the MILF in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in keeping with the signed agreements, and towards efforts of resolving diverging views on some aspects of implementation.”
Galvez said the meeting will not be in Kuala Lumpur but in Davao City.
He added that as the local peace process mechanisms are being tapped to verify what really happened in Datu Paglas, the Cabinet’s Security, Justice and Peace sector has recommended that the Department of Justice, through the National Bureau of Investigation will conduct the investigation, with the Bangsamoro Human Rights Commission and the Commission on Human Rights.
Galvez noted that other government agencies involved in the law enforcement operation are also conducting their internal investigations.
On June 26, Senator Robin Padilla, chair of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs, filed a resolution asking the Senate to conduct a probe into possible violations of the GPH-MILF peace agreement in the Datu Paglas operation.
Law enforcement operation
Armed with search warrants issued on June 16 by Judge Aniceto Rasalan, operatives from the police and military proceeded to the Husain compound in the early hours of June 18 but were reportedly met by gunfire. The operatives fired back, resulting in what Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, regional commander of the Police Regional Office in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) described as “a fierce firefight that lasted more than an hour and half.”
A member of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police was wounded in the operation.
The operatives were supposed to search the compound where brothers Nasser Yousef Husain alias Tutin Usop and Norjihad Husain alias Datdat Usop lived. The two are allegedly members of the BIFF Karialan faction.
In his report to the chief of the Philippine National Police in Maguindanao del Sur, Captain Nurhjasier Sali, acting chief of police of Datu Paglas, said the brothers were “original members” of the BIFF Karialan Faction under the leadership of the Mohiden Animbang aka ‘Karialan’ that operates in the two provinces of Maguindanao, referring to del Sur and del Norte. Nasser, the report said, was a “former battalion commander” of the BIFF faction.
The two are sons of Commander TMX, which Sali’s report said was a “Division Commander of the BIFF-KF.”
The report further said the father and sons “received IED (improvised explosive device) training from the late Basit Usman in Mamasapano, Maguindanao” and were involved in the bombing of the National Grid Corporation tower in Barangay Kitulaan, Carmen, North Cotabato on September 3, 2016.
According to the report, they were also involved in the May 8, 2021 attack in the Datu Paglas public market which displaced some 5,000 civilians and “provided manpower, armaments, logistics, food staff (sic), and served as guides from Liguasan Marsh to Datu Paglas proper during the said attack,” and were also affiliated with a kidnap for ransom gang under Tahir Alonto that was behind the kidnapping and drug-related activities in Maguindanao del Sur. The report claimed the two had direct contact with Sukarno Hamdan aka Shiek, “BIFF Field Commander under BIFF-Karialan faction.”
Fact-finding mission
Datu Paglas Mayor Datu Abubakar Paglas told members of a fact-finding mission (FFM) on June 27 that the seven victims were members of the MILF National Guard, not BIFF members. He also called for an independent probe.
The FFM was initiated by Bantay Ceasefire, a group of volunteers from the communities and civil society organizations that has been monitoring the ceasefire between government and the MILF since 2002.
The FFM members interviewed the mayor, the police chief and the barangay captain and visited the Husain compound.
Bantay Ceasefire volunteer Mary Ann Arnado, now a Member of Parliament in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) asked police chief Sali if there are BIFF elements in his area of responsibility, Sali cited the 2021 incident but “as of now, wala” (none).
The mayor lamented that while they had recovered from what happened in May 2021, reports that the seven victims were BIFF members are affecting the image of his town and could drive away investors and potential investors.
“Walang Freedom dito” (There is no Freedom here), the mayor said. “Freedom” is the term used to refer to the BIFF. Mayor Paglas said the seven victims were MILF members and two of them were his relatives.
Sali assumed the post of acting police chief on June 16. He told the FFM that he was informed at 10 p.m. on June 17 that a law enforcement operation would be undertaken in his area but no details were provided. He said he received a phone call from a Captain Cepeda of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) at 2:28 a.m. on June 18 that they need assistance because there was resistance in their serving the search warrants.
“Isolated case”
Sali said he and his police arrived in the compound shortly after 3 a.m. but waited outside the fenced compound. He said they were tasked to “evacuate” the seven persons who were pronounced dead upon arrival at the provincial hospital in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat province.
Mayor Paglas said the operatives did not coordinate with the local government unit, not even with the barangay captain of Madidis, Nasrudin Nawal. He clarified the barangay where the Husain compound is located is Madidis and not Damawato as reported by operatives.
Nawal told the FFM that he learned about the operation only when he was awakened by gunshots. He lives about a hundred meters away. Two of the victims were his relatives.
Galvez said the government side of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), a peace process mechanism created in 2002, sent a letter to its MILF counterpart on June 15 about the law enforcement operations that would be launched against the BIFF, drug syndicates and lawless armed groups in several areas in some provinces. Two of the areas mentioned in the letter are barangays Madidis and Damawato.
Galvez maintains that what happened in Datu Paglas is “an isolated case” and he looks forward to the July 1 meeting of the peace implementing panels to attend to this issue and the other issues that need the panels’ attention. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
https://www.mindanews.com/peace-process/2023/06/gph-milf-peace-implementing-panels-to-meet-on-datu-paglas-7-and-transition-related-issues/
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