Gov’t not yet demanding MILF to give up men involved in Mamasapano clash

MANILA, Philippines—There was no demand yet from the government to surrender members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front  (MILF) who were allegedly involved in the Mamasapano incident, officials told a Senate hearing on Monday.

During  the hearing of the Senate committee on public order, joint with committees on peace, unification, and reconciliation, and finance, Senate President  Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto asked the government officials present if they have demanded the MILF  to surrender its members involved in the killings of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) members  during the Mamasapano operation last January 25.

“Your honor, what we have put forward is full accountability. With regard to the surrendering of person,  I guess we  will need to await for DOJ (Department  of Justice)  to  say who exactly that they want to be surrendered and  on what charges because  until that is done, we don’t know whom to demand for,”  Secretary Teresita Deles, presidential adviser  on the peace process, said.

Recto then asked if at this point, there was no demand yet from the government to surrender the MILF members involved in the encounter to which Deles answered: “For specific persons, for specific crimes wala kasi wala pa naman hong nailalabas din ang DOJ. It’s in principle a very strong demand for full accountability but with regard ‘yung surrendering, I think that based on the legal framework that was put up by Secretary  de Lima… we need to have specific names,  and specific crimes.”

Deles was referring to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who was also present in the hearing.

Responding to Recto’s query, the Justice Secretary said there was a proper time to demand for the surrender of those involved in the killings of the SAF men.

“We have no coercive power at this point to demand that they surrender those involved. We have to find out first exactly what happened, who are involved, identify them, and when the proper time comes, there would be appropriate processes, legal processes like the issuance of subpoena…”

But Recto pressed for a categorical answer, saying the people, especially the family of those who perished from the encounter are waiting for the government’s answer.

“Will you demand the MILF to surrender their combatants?” the senator again asked.

“Ideally we should do that, we demand if we know already who exactly they are and if the MILF also for its part knows exactly who they are already,” de Lima said, pointing  out that even the  MILF  has yet to complete its own  investigation on the incident.

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