MANILA, Philippines—A group of retired and active generals urged the government to “examine closely the security implications of any final agreement” with armed rebel groups following the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s bloody encounter with elite policemen in Maguindanao over the weekend.
“This tragic disaster, happening as it did when the government has demonstrated its willingness to accommodate the aspirations of the Moro people underscores deeply the need to examine closely the security implications of any final agreement with any armed rebel group like the MILF,” said retired Lieutenant General Edilberto Adan, chairman and president of the Association of General and Flag Officers Inc. (Agfo) in a statement on Wednesday.
The government and the MILF signed a peace pact last year. The proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law is pending in Congress.
The group condemned the killing and described it as “a heinous, barbaric massacre that cannot be justified even under the current protocols of the peace process between the government and the MILF,” and recommended a need for “a swift, independent investigation.”
The members of the Special Action Force were supposed to serve the warrant for Marwan, most wanted terrorist in Southeast Asia, when they figured in a clash with combined members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the MILF in Mamasapano town. The MILF said the SAF did not coordinate with them.
The government has yet to identify who ordered the mission as the police and military top brass claimed they were not informed of the botched operation.
Adan also recommended the observance of national mourning where the Philippine flag will be flown at half-mast throughout the country for a week.
“The government should demand the return of all firearms stolen from the dead policemen and for the MILF leadership to surrender the perpetrators within their ranks,” Adan said.
The group also said it opposed “the creation of any security force not under the total command and control of the AFP or the PNP whose authority emanates from the powers of the President as commander-in-chief.”
“It should not be forgotten that even as negotiations are happening, the status of the MILF forces as a combatant force that considers the government forces as its enemy is real, as shown in the Al Barka ambush of Army Scout rangers in Basilan in 2011 and many other skirmishes,” Adan said.
The Agfo is composed of about 800 retired and active duty generals and flag-ranked officers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Coast Guard, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and Bureau of Fire Protection.
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