DAVAO CITY—North Cotabato Vice Gov. Emmanuel F. Piñol brought his outrage over a proposed Moro homeland closer to Malacañang Wednesday. He demanded that Press Secretary Jesus Dureza apologize for calling him “irresponsible” in revealing a talk he had with Presidential Peace Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.

“I can take your accusation of being irresponsible, but your insinuation that I was lying to dramatize a point is something that I cannot accept and I cannot allow to pass,” Piñol said.

The vice governor was referring to his earlier phone conversation with Esperon, whom he quoted as saying that the government “will not sacrifice the lives of our soldiers for you” should the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) attack villages in North Cotabato because of its stand against a government-MILF agreement on ancestral domain.

On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order stopping government negotiators from signing the memorandum of agreement (MOA) in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 5.

Wednesday afternoon, Dureza sent his apology in a text message to Piñol.

“Perhaps, in the heat of debate and dynamic discussions, I may have touched some sensitivities of my good friend, Vice Gov. Manny Piñol. If I did, I apologize. Friendship and respect go beyond passing issues of the day. I value the former,” Dureza said.

Esperon denial

But Esperon, who arrived Wednesday from the Malaysian capital, denied telling Piñol that soldiers would not be sent to help his constituents should they be attacked by the MILF.

The peace adviser said he did not know why the vice governor was making such claims, which, he added, had been circulating in text messages in North Cotabato along with similar messages that tended to “inflame the situation.”

Esperon, a retired AFP chief of staff, said soldiers would never abandon their “mandated” task to defend the people. Even the present military commanders always “observe the primacy of the peace process,” he said.

Policy has changed

Esperon disclosed that shortly before he assumed his role as peace adviser, he met with Piñol and other governors taking part in a regional peace and order council meeting on June 12 in North Cotabato, where he talked about the peace process and the proposed MOA on ancestral domain.

“This is what I said … if you (Piñol) [seek a] temporary restraining order on the document and I advised [him], you also see what the effects of this on the peace process because there could be some incidents that could follow from that,” Esperon said.

“I said remember this is not the year 2000 … when we had a national policy of capturing and occupying MILF camps, … and I said the policy had changed. We are pursuing the peace process.”

Esperon said soldiers observed the primacy of the peace process themselves and “are still mandated to protect communities, to secure highways, major facilities, business centers and they had never been remiss in these duties.”

Asked whether Piñol might have misunderstood him, Esperon said that when he and the vice governor parted at that meeting, he thought “we were very clear.”

“I think there was a general agreement that we support the peace process and he even said he is always for peace and I believed him,” Esperon said. He stressed that Piñol was his “kumpadre,” having served in the province when he was brigade commander.

Ammunition request

Esperon said that in that same regional council meeting, the governors and local executives had sought ammunition from the government to defend themselves from “elements” entering the region. He said he and the military officers there made it clear to the officials that it would be illegal for the AFP to issue ammunition to civilians.

“I said we could not be doing that. It’s not the policy of government to allow civilians to arm themselves or bear arms and take the law into their hands. After all, we have the security forces … we must depend on the reliable armed forces and Philippine National Police elements present in the area should there be illegal or violent acts that have to be addressed,” he said.

Yano’s assurance

In a statement released in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Gen. Alexander Yano, Armed Forces chief of staff, assured the leaders and people of North Cotabato that the AFP “is capable and aptly equipped to address the threats besetting them.”

“There is no policy restraining the military organization to defend the Filipino people from any threat regardless of his creed, political belief and ideological position,” Yano said.

Piñol had sent a letter to Dureza, expressing surprise at his statement during an interview in ABS-CBN’s “Umagang Kay Ganda” morning news program on Wednesday.

“I felt sick when I heard you over ABS-CBN call me an irresponsible official who exaggerated my report on the conversation I had with Peace Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.,” he said.

“Had the press secretary been more prudent, he would have heard Secretary Esperon obliquely (but humbly) apologize for making that statement in the succeeding program … And I have accepted his apology even if it was not said directly,” the vice governor said.

Senators’ call

In Manila, several senators Wednesday called for the resignation of Esperon for allegedly messing up the peace process and coming up with the MOA with the MILF.

“By firing Esperon, the President will show that she does not agree with the MOA. He has no more credibility, he will face a lot of cases,” Sen. Manuel Roxas II said in a press conference. “Whatever Esperon did, she [the President] is liable because she appointed him. The President has given all her confidence to Esperon.”

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon also called for a revamp of Esperon’s office, specifically the legal panel engaged in the peace talks with the MILF.

“If this peace process had been properly thought of, or thought about then maybe it will not be as messed up as it is today. Our peace panel had messed up this thing very badly. It had brought the situation to a critical point,” he said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson lambasted Esperon for being “narrow-minded” and continuing to act like he was still head of the AFP.

‘Ill-suited for job’

“He should not usurp the role of defense secretary; I don’t think the military was as narrow-minded as Esperon,” he said.

Sen. Francis Escudero said the MOA fiasco revealed the true motive of continued chaos in Mindanao instead of forging peace in the region.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel said the MOA showed that Esperon was “ill-suited” for the job of peace adviser.

“His training, background and frame of mind are not appropriate for the job. Esperon claimed there will be a state within a state but there is no such animal in Political Science 101. If it is true what he said to Piñol, he only showed his true color,” Pimentel said.

Esperon said he “serves at the pleasure of President Arroyo.”

“I believe I’m doing my best. I’m not one to resign from a hard job but well, I’ll think about what he says because he is a senator of the land,” he said in reaction to the statement of Roxas. With reports from Michael Lim Ubac, Nikko Dizon and Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.