Rebels warn MILF: Don’t give up your weapons

JORGE MADLOS, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front in Mindanao, in this photo taken December 2003 in his then hideout somewhere in Surigao del Sur AFP

DAVAO CITY—Two weeks ago,  amid calls for the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army to return to the negotiating table with the government, Left leader Satur Ocampo had urged President Aquino to “uphold his vow to resume peace talks”  with the insurgent group, just like he did with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

But over the weekend, the communist National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) warned the Moro group against the government’s  “devious scheming” with regard to the framework agreement it signed early this month.

In a statement e-mailed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Jorge Madlos, NDFP spokesperson in Mindanao, warned the MILF against readily giving up its arms, and said that agreeing to decommission its Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) would render the group useless in protecting the rights of the Moro people.

“Learning lessons from the    past, the MILF should not easily relinquish its effective military strength on the whim of the reactionary government so that it can continue to defend the interests of the entire Moro people,” said Madlos, also known as Ka Oris.

The NDFP entered into a tactical alliance with the MILF in February 1999 on the issue of the Moro people’s right to self- determination.

“Before any form of ‘decommissioning’ takes place, it must be made crystal clear that the terms must never render the MILF’s BIAF incapacitated, without initiative, or simply reduced to take on police functions under the control of the Philippine National Police,” Madlos said in the statement.

He said that even before the signing of the framework agreement, the government (was) already “slyly emasculating” the Moro armed group through its long-drawn out ceasefire agreement. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao