MILF seeks independent probe on deadly Datu Paglas ops

KORONADAL CITY – The central committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is calling on the government to immediately convene the joint peace implementing panels in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, following the bloody police and military operation in Datu Paglas town, Maguindanao del Sur on June 18 that killed seven of its members.

This was contained in a resolution signed by MILF chair Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim and Abunawas “Von Alhaq” Maslamama, acting MILF central committee secretary, following a special meeting at Camp Darapanan, the MILF’s headquarters in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte on Tuesday, June 20.

READ: MILF blasts state troops for killing of 7 members in Maguindanao del Sur

In the same resolution that was made public only on Thursday, Ebrahim, also the interim chief of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and Abunawas, the concurrent BARMM senior minister, also called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to give “paramount importance to justice, peace and security” as they called for an impartial probe on the incident to be done by a third party.

According to the MILF, convening the joint peace implementing panels of the government and the MILF in Malaysia, the third-party facilitator during the peace negotiations, in July this year would be “in keeping with the signed agreements, and towards efforts of resolving diverging views on some aspects of implementation.”

The former Moro rebel group that signed a peace deal with the government that eventually gave birth to the BARMM confirmed that those killed during the June 18 police operation were legitimate MILF members belonging to its National Guard Front, 11th Brigade, Inner Guard Base Command.

The MILF identified those killed as Nasser Yousef Husain, 34; Norjihad Husain, 29; Nasrullah Mamay Singkala, 38; Ivan Pumpugay, 18; Izrael Laguiab, 42; Morsid Madidis, 50; and Mama Karim, 53.

The MILF’s central committee stressed that the failure of state security forces to coordinate the operation was a gross violation of the ceasefire agreement and undermines the primacy of the Bangsamoro peace process.

“This horrific incident happened in an MILF community where the victims already filed their applications for amnesty,” the resolution said, referring to the amnesty program as an integral component of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which the GPH and the MILF signed in 2014 after 17 years of negotiations.

Alhaq said the “loss of lives and injustice” could have been prevented had the operating team followed the guidelines of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), a cooperative mechanism in the Bangsamoro peace process that responds to criminality and terrorism in areas with MILF presence.

The resolution singled out the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group – BARMM for the tragic incident in Barangay Damawato, Datu Paglas in the wee hours of June 18, although the military also took part in the operation.

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, PNP director in the BARMM, said the two main targets, the Husain brothers, were allegedly involved in criminal activities, including the bombing of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) tower in Carmen, Cotabato province, and the 2021 attack and occupation of the Datu Paglas public market in Maguindanao del Sur.

Maj. Gen. Alex Rillera, commander of the military’s Joint Task Force Central, said the operating troops were serving search warrants on the Husain brothers for alleged violation of Republic Act 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act when they were met by gunfire, forcing them to retaliate.

Rillera also claimed that the slain men were members of the Islamic State-aligned Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which was immediately disputed by the MILF.