MILF remains a ‘revolutionary organization,’ says Iqbal

Video by Cathy Miranda/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Despite a peace agreement with the government, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front still considers itself a “revolutionary organization.”

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, who skipped the second day of the Senate hearing on the Mamasapano incident Tuesday, sent a letter explaining his absence.

Read by representative MILF Coordinating Committee of the Cessation of Hostilities chairman Rashid Ladiasan, part of the letter stated: “Please bear with us as we engage the institution of the Philippine Senate officially for the first time. The MILF is a revolutionary organization. Until peace agreement is implemented, we remain to be a revolutionary organization.”

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. found the statement “alarming.”

“Is it Iqbal’s understanding that we are still at war with MILF until the Bangsamoro government is established, peace pact implemented?” Marcos asked.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal. AP FILE PHOTO

“That is an indirect contradiction to what was told to us in BBL hearings,” he added.

Iqbal also requested his appearance to be in an executive session and will attend only when the investigation is done.

“I would like to apologize [for] my inability to attend the hearing tomorrow,” read Ladiasan in the letter dated Monday.

The MILF also committed to return the firearms by the fallen Special Action Force troops.

“I take this opportunity to inform your Honor that the MILF has decided to return the firearms and any retrievable personal effects of the fallen SAF-PNP in deference to the peace process and the recognition of the MILF that it never wanted that unfortunate incident on Jan. 25 in Mamasapano in Maguindanao to happen. This was the first time since 2011 that fighting erupted between government and MILF forces,” Iqbal said.

The elite police officers figured in an encounter with members of the MILF and its breakaway group the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, in an attempt to arrest top international terrorists, Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Basit Usman.

The operation, which resulted in the death of Marwan, claimed the lives of 44 elite police officers. Usman remains at large.

Government peace panel chair Professor Miriam Coronel Ferrer, however, said that the government is not at war with the MILF.

“We are not at war with the MILF, but the ceasefire was broken in Mamasapano. What we are discussing [is the] circumstance that broke the ceasefire,” she said.

The government and the MILF have signed a peace agreement last year and are in the process of creating a Bangsamoro Basic Law, which provides for the creation of an independent Bangsamoro entity.

Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the MILF, had initially said after the Mamasapano incident that his group remains committed to the peace process.

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