Split in MILF: Top leader suspends key commander
Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters are seen at a checkpoint of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. PHOTO BY JEOFFREY MAITEM / INQUIRER MINDANAO
COTABATO CITY—The central committee of the erstwhile rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has started purging its ranks in a division within what used to be the country’s largest armed revolutionary organization.
In an order dated Sept. 1, the MILF central committee, headed by its chair, Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim, suspended Ustadz Abdulwahid Tundok, commander of the 118th base command of its former armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF).
In keeping with the 2014 peace deal the MILF inked with the government, some 40,000 BIAF fighters have to be decommissioned, including the weapons issued by the organization so these are “put beyond use.”
The final phase of the decommissioning process, which involves some 14,000 former combatants, was halted by the MILF leadership, as the government supposedly reneged on its committed socioeconomic support package for those earlier decommissioned fighters.
READ: MILF suspends key commander over policy violations
Defiance
In a recent dialogue in Davao City, Bangsamoro Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal, who is also MILF vice chair, said they also pulled the plug on decommissioning following the “regime change” in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Last March, BIAF chief Abdulraof Macacua was appointed by President Marcos as interim chief minister following Ebrahim’s resignation.
With decommissioning halted, Ebrahim ordered all MILF members, especially field commanders, to desist from participating in government-initiated activities that are seen as “unilatetal” implementation of the peace deal, especially decommissioning and normalization.
Ebrahim said Tundok had defied this order.
“The central committee issued an indefinite suspension order against Commander Tundok,” Iqbal confirmed.
Sources told the Inquirer that Tundok was seen attending a meeting in Datu Hoffer town, Maguindanao del Sur. Tundok’s base command covers areas that were critical battle zones in the course of the MILF’s armed struggle.
In a position paper dated Aug. 9, 12 BIAF base commanders acknowledged “the accomplishments and compliance of the government with the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.”
In their position paper, the field commanders did not mention the MILF’s earlier position against unilateral continuation of the decommissioning process by the government.
However, in a statement released on Thursday, Iqbal said the statement of some BIAF base commanders “reflects their oneness with the commitment of the MILF to honor and abide by CAB (Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro), including the decommissioning of its weapons and combatants.”
He stressed that the MILF decision to halt the decommissioning process aimed to preserve the gains of the peace process and to allow the government and the MILF to sort things out in their correct appreciation and proper perspective.
“After all, to stress again, decommissioning is not an isolated issue: It is just one element of the normalization process,” Iqbal said.
Alarmed by the seeming impasse in the CAB implementation, Cotabato Archbishop Emeritus Cardinal Orlando Quevedo asked that both parties sit down and iron out differences.
Early this week, the independent Third-Party Monitoring Team (TPMT) expressed grave concern as they said the peace process “have reached a perilous juncture.”
The TPMT said the first BARMM elections on Oct. 13 is of particular importance as it represents the completion of the political track of the CAB. —WITH A REPORT FROM TAHER SOLAIMAN
