MILF committed to keep peace in South, says Aquino

President Benigno Aquino III said the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has committed to ensure that there will be no breakaway armed group that would continue the conflict in Mindanao after a peace agreement is signed.

Unless all stakeholders are satisfied after a draft agreement is finalized between the government and the MILF, there can be no peace, Mr. Aquino said.

Mr. Aquino made the remarks in the wake of concerns that the recent outbreak of fighting between the MILF and a breakaway faction could mitigate any agreements made in a prospective peace treaty.

“They are committed that once the agreement is done, they will join us in ensuring that there is no need for anybody to break away,” Mr. Aquino told reporters.

Some 17 people have been reported killed in clashes that broke out last weekend between the MILF and a breakaway group calling itself the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) headed by Ameril Umbra Kato.

A spokesperson for the BIFF, Abu Misry Mama, has assailed the ongoing peace talks between the MILF and the government as “political trash.”

He claimed the group had recruited more than 8,000 fighters since bolting out of the MILF last year.

Mr. Aquino said the MILF has acknowledged that Kato is their internal problem.

“I think they are handling it right now,” he said.

He said all stakeholders in Mindanao would be consulted after the peace talks end with a draft agreement. This would ensure that there would be no breakaway groups that would continue the decades-long conflict, he said.

“We are trying to speak with the entire Bangsamoro people. That is why at the end of the negotiations, we will present it before all of the stakeholders before presenting it to the country at large,” he said.

“So without their support, we cannot achieve the peace that we want,” he added.

Armed Forces spokesperson Commodore Miguel Jose Rodriguez said the military was watching developments closely and stepping in wherever possible to prevent more bloodshed between the MILF troops and the BIFF.

“[We have to] protect the primacy of the peace process… There could be consequences if the infighting continues,” Rodriguez said.

But Rodriguez stressed that the clashes sprang from a territorial dispute and had nothing to do with the peace talks.

“We hope and we want to be able to resolve that soon,” he told reporters.

Asked why the military was not moving to arrest Kato, Rodriguez replied: “We have to have a really good appreciation of the engagement area. That’s similar to the question, why didn’t we capture [Abu Sayyaf leader] Isnilon Hapilon?”