MILF to return arms but its absent leader irks senators

Senator Pia Cayetano. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

“This is the Republic of the Philippines, not the Republic of MILF. So the timelines are set by this committee and that is why I feel that for MILF chair Murad Ebrahim to come when they deem it convenient for them is already a disrespect for this committee,” Sen. Pia Cayetano lashed out on Tuesday, with the absence of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front leadership at the Senate inquiry of three joint committees into the Mamasapano incident.

The MILF on Tuesday promised to return the firearms taken from the Special Action Force and appear in a closed-door hearing on the massacre of 44 SAF commandos on Jan. 25 in Maguindanao province in a move that Cayetano described as a disrespect to the Senate.

A letter from the MILF’s chief peace negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, to Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the joint Senate inquiry into the botched police mission, was read on the second day of the hearing.

But Cayetano expressed frustration at the MILF statement.

Not fair

“I have followed with dismay and frustration the response of MILF on the return of the firearms and the personal belongings [of the SAF 44]. It has taken 15 days. More than two weeks—we have buried the SAF 44 and the MILF and civilians have probably been buried as well—just to tell us that they will return government property?” Cayetano said.

Cayetano also objected to Iqbal’s request for an executive session, which Poe said she would consider.

Cayetano noted that officials of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines had allowed themselves to be grilled in an open session by nonmilitary personnel.

“And yet, their counterpart, the MILF, will be questioned in private? That doesn’t seem right,” she said. “This is not fair playing ground, even now. It was not fair on the field, and it is not fair now. This is not how we proceed.”

It was the MILF’s response to a widespread clamor for the return of the seized firearms from the commandos and an invitation for the MILF to participate in the hearings as a gesture of trust and sincerity.

“The MILF has decided to return the firearms and any retrievable personal effects of the fallen SAF in deference to the peace process,” Iqbal said.

He likewise said that he would appear before the Senate in an executive session upon completion of the MILF’s own inquiry into the Mamasapano incident.

While she respected the peace process, things must not be brushed aside because of the government push for the approval of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), Cayetano said, referring to the measure that would give flesh to the comprehensive peace agreement between the government and the MILF.

“We’re basically saying that, ‘None of these things matter except the signing of the BBL.’ That is the message that many of us hear, that many of those in the public hear. And that is not the right message. Yes, peace should be pursued at all cost. But what will the process be?” she said.

Still revolutionary

Iqbal also said in his letter that the organization remained a revolutionary group until the peace agreement with the government had been fully implemented, and asked for patience from the Senate which it is engaging as an institution officially for the first time.

“While we may have signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government after 18 years of intermittent war and negotiations, that peace agreement has yet to be implemented. Until the peace agreement is fully implemented, we will remain to be a revolutionary organization,” Iqbal said.

BIFF to keep weapons

Rasid Ladiasan, who chairs the MILF’s coordinating committee on the cessation of hostilities, read Iqbal’s letter during the second day of the Senate’s probe into the police operation to arrest Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” which led to the bloody incident last month.

In Davao City, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) announced it could not be forced by either the MILF or the government to yield to demands that it hand over weapons and personal belongings of the SAF commandos.

“We have no plans of returning the firearms. Why would we? In fact, we will seize more firearms and ammunition from government forces in future operations,” BIFF spokesperson Abu Misri Mama said in a phone interview with the Inquirer.

“The SAF intruded in our area and attacked us. Why blame us for it? They failed in the operation so it is their fault,” Mama said.

He said the BIFF had taken 10 rifles—a baby Armalite, four M-16, a Bushmaster, two baby Armalites with M203 grenade launchers, an M-16 with M203 grenade launcher and a 90mm recoilless rifle during the 11-hour firefight, Mama claimed.

The seized firearms will be distributed to the BIFF’s first division led by Kagi Mohaiden “Karialan” Animbang, Mama divulged.

Fighters of the MILF, BIFF and other armed groups participated in the battle against the SAF force, according to testimony given in the Senate inquiry on the Mamasapano incident. The BIFF is a breakaway faction of the MILF.

Revolutionary group

Iqbal’s letter raised the hackles of some senators, who questioned the implications of Iqbal’s assertion that the MILF would remain a revolutionary group until the peace agreement is fully implemented.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked whether the MILF assertion that it remained a revolutionary group could mean the government was still at war with it.

Marcos said the statements of Iqbal contradicted statements during the BBL hearing that there was a cessation of military action between the MILF and the government, and that the process of decommissioning in the MILF had begun.

“Can we now assume we are still at war with the MILF?” he asked.

The head of the government’s peace panel, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, said the issue on whether the MILF remained a revolutionary organization must be seen in the context of the whole peace process.

The government is not at war with the MILF and there is a ceasefire agreement between the two, which was violated during the Mamasapano incident. As to who violated it first, an investigation would determine this, she said.

Road map

There is a road map that would lead to the full transformation of the armed group into an unarmed organization participating in the political, economic, cultural and social processes of the country. Part of this is the decommissioning process, she added.

Poe said she was counting on Iqbal’s appearance at the Senate, which she said would demonstrate good faith.

“It’s all words that is being discussed here but his mere presence will show also good faith in our discussions and in the peace process,” she said.

As for Iqbal’s request for an executive session, she said she would consider this. But if the committee feels that information shared in the session would not jeopardize national security and was just to protect certain individuals, the information would be made public.

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