MANILA, Philippines—The military is not moving against Muslim rebel leader Ameril Umra Kato and his followers even after the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) officially declared Kato a renegade.
A spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the AFP was waiting for word from the government negotiating panel on the status of Kato who has standing arrest warrants.
“We give primacy to the peace process so we want to be able to give our negotiators a chance and then for them to give us advice on what we can do and what we can’t do. We don’t have that yet,” Commodore Miguel Rodriguez said yesterday.
“As long as he is in MILF-held areas, there is a complication,” added Rodriguez who is also the AFP deputy chief of staff for civil military operations.
The MILF announced yesterday that its highest policy-making body, the Central Committee, has declared Kato and his followers in the so-called Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) as bughaat, or a rebel against his fellow Moro guerrillas.
An Arabic term, bughaat refers to a person or a group “who rebels against the ruler or those who do not obey a lawful order or duly organized authority.”
The MILF Central Committee disowned Kato on July 5, but this only became official when MILF Chair Murad Ebrahim signed the declaration on Aug. 18.
The military said an uneasy truce is holding between Kato’s BIFF and the MILF’s 106th base command after skirmishes in Maguindanao this month that displaced about 3,000 people.
The latest rido (or clan conflict) between MILF fighters occurred during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
“What we know is there is still rido but there is no physical manifestation. We have not seen signs that they have resolved the conflict. They still have to resolve it among themselves,” Rodriguez said.
“As much as possible that is an internal conflict and we want to be able to give them the chance to resolve that,” he added.
During talks in Kuala Lumpur, chief negotiator Marvic Leonen had asked the MILF panel to clarify Kato’s status.
The talks were cut short after the MILF rejected the government’s counterproposal which offered a framework of autonomy different from the MILF’s proposal of creating a Bangsamoro substate.
Rodriguez said the military was still “very optimistic” that the conflict would eventually be politically settled.
“What happened (in the negotiation) has no effect on the deployment of forces. We are not looking at any direct linkage to what is happening on the ground,” he said.
“We are very optimistic (in the peace talks) because we in the Armed Forces, all the people want an end to the conflict in Mindanao,” Rodriguez added.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, however, said he predicts the talks would collapse because there was no way the government could agree to the Moro demand for a substate.
Enrile warned President Aquino against “exposing himself to possible impeachment” if he gave in to the MILF demand which, the senator said, was a violation of the Constitution.
“No self-respecting President of this country will accept a dismemberment of the country during his watch,” said Enrile in an interview at the Senate. With a report from Christian Esguerra