MANILA, Philippines - Government negotiators will proceed with plans to resume peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) despite its purported involvement in the kidnapping of Irish missionary Fr. Michael Sinnott.

According to Annabelle Abaya, President Macapagal-Arroyo’s adviser on the peace process, the government peace panel operates on the assumption that the MILF will face it in good faith when negotiations resume before Christmas, as targeted.

Abaya said she was confident that MILF leaders would address the “fractionalization” of their ranks, as implied in reports that “rogue elements” abducted Sinnott at the Columban mission compound in Pagadian City on Oct 11.

“The case of Father Sinnott is very urgent. We would like to [view the MILF’s] offer of assistance [in search efforts] as [a show of] confidence,” Abaya said yesterday morning at a forum sponsored by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap).

Rescue plan

“We always remain open. We need to trust. Otherwise, we’re not going to make any progress. We need to be very careful since we are handling something very fragile,” she said.

In Zamboanga City, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the government had prepared a rescue plan for Sinnott but that it would be carried out only if the situation got worse.

“It means that we are doing the police operation in earnest,” he said.

Puno added, however, that even with the planned rescue operation, the government was still “going to try to effect the peaceful release” of the 79-year-old missionary.

“There will be no rescue effort immediately unless it becomes absolutely necessary or his physical safety is in peril,” he said.

‘He’s doing his job’

Puno had earlier said members of the MILF 113th Base Command led by Aloy Al Ashree had taken Sinnott.

He also said that as a result, the Philippine National Police and the Crisis Management Committee (CMC) led by Zamboanga del Sur Gov. Aurora Cerilles were cutting off all communication with the MILF.

The MILF has denied Puno’s accusation, saying Al Ashree was actually trying to have Sinnott freed. It also said Puno’s claim was “cheap propaganda” and an affront to the peace process.

Asked at the Focap forum if Puno’s statements had put Sinnott and the peace talks in further jeopardy, Abaya said: “I cannot make any judgment… I understand the secretary. I spoke to him but I do not have all the information… He is doing his job. He has reason to believe [the MILF’s involvement] but we do not have the full report so I cannot comment on that.

“We have to count on [the MILF leaders] to control their people. In every organization, even in the government, there will always be fractionalization, so we continue to engage [them] internally and externally.”

Gov’t-MILF pacts

Late last month, Abaya’s office announced that the government and the MILF had signed in Kuala Lumpur a document ensuring the protection of civilians in armed conflict areas in Mindanao.

Called the Agreement on the Civilian Protection Component of the International Monitoring Team, the document was heralded as an indication of the reopening of the stalled peace negotiations.

Before this, the government and the MILF also agreed on the creation of a mediating International Contact Group (ICG) composed of “interested countries” and non-government groups, as part of “the commitment to find a just and lasting peace in Mindanao.”

Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, chair of the government peace panel, said Sinnott’s kidnapping should not be regarded as a stumbling block to the peace talks despite allegations of MILF involvement.

“It is a kidnap case, a criminal act which is not related to the peace process,” Seguis explained at the Focap forum.

“I feel personally that this is very far in context to what we [have achieved in the talks] now. I have faith and trust in the MILF leadership. If I view them as kidnappers, well, I would not talk to them again,” he said.

He added that despite Puno’s statements, the government peace panel would not drop plans to meet again with MILF representatives in Kuala Lumpur “to discuss the operationalization of the ICG.”

Review of agreements

Puno said meetings were being conducted with major military and police commanders in Western and northern Mindanao to discuss ways to resolve the Sinnott kidnapping.

“We are reviewing all agreements that are enforced with the MILF with respect to the possible problems that we will be facing in the kidnapping situation,” he said.

Puno said the review was being done “to make sure that any action taken by the police and military would be consistent with the agreements that are now in the peace process.”

He said he had also requested the activation of the CMCs in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte.

“We have also invited Governor Cerilles to come down to meet with the entire group, so that we can formalize and finalize what needs to be done,” he said.

Puno likewise said the police would ask the MILF leadership to present the six suspects in the Sinnott kidnapping. He named them as Al Ashree, Nasser Macabalo, Jamat Latip, Wanning Abdusalam, and Imam Abubakar, all MILF commanders operating in Western and northern Mindanao.

But the MILF has already said it would not produce Al Ashree or any of its other members accused of criminal acts.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said the group would hold Puno “responsible for what will happen on the ground.”

Military intel

“If they are going to attack us, we are prepared,” Iqbal said, adding that the MILF central committee had warned Al Ashree to look out for a possible government attack.

As it turned out, military intelligence also has information naming Al Ashree in connection with Sinnott’s abduction.

“The initial information that we got is like that,” Gen. Victor Ibrado, the Armed Forces chief of staff, told reporters yesterday at Camp Aguinaldo.

But Ibrado said the information had yet “to be confirmed.”

He said there were “some names” as well as “some information” that commanders of the MILF Special Operations Group were the ones holding the missionary.

“[Puno] has his own sources, but there are a lot of reports pointing to the possibility that the people who are keeping Father Sinnott are rogue MILF members. But we have to prove that,” Ibrado said.

He said the military was not discounting the possibility that Sinnott’s kidnappers only intended to “sabotage” the peace talks.

Last option

“[The MILF leaders] have to prove that they’re really not involved. We know … that the MILF cannot control all [its] people,” he said, adding that military operations would be the government’s last option in rescuing Sinnott.

According to Ibrado, the military will wait for the instructions of the CMC headed by Cerilles.

“We’re taking the cue from them. If they feel that there’s no hope in the negotiations, then all we want is a signal from them so that we can conduct rescue operations,” he said.

He also tried to allay fears that Puno’s claim against the MILF might stall the peace process. With a report from Marlon Ramos