Moro Islamic Liberation Front chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA
Malacañang on Friday said there was no deception on the part of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) when its chief negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, continues to use an alias while negotiating peace with the government.
READ: Iqbal: Yes, I have many aliases
“There’s no deception on their part because Iqbal made his real name known to [the] government,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.
“At least on the side of the executive, allow me to say that the real names of the MILF negotiators are of course known to the Philippine government, and in fact, they possess Philippine passports as issued by the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs),” Valte told a Palace briefing.
Valte said that previous governments had allowed rebels to continue using their aliases when negotiating peace with the government. She noted that this was the practice when the government and MILF began negotiations in 1997, with the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA), and even with the communist National Democratic Front (NDF).
Negotiators knew
“They were allowed to continue using their aliases that they used as part of their underground rebel organizations as a matter of personal security,” she said.
READ: Gov’t allowed Iqbal, others to use aliases for security
Chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer on Thursday said she had known for a long time that “Mohagher Iqbal” was a nom de guerre (French for war name or assumed name). She said she also knew Iqbal’s other names, including the aliases he used as an author.
According to Ferrer, Iqbal’s signing the peace agreement with an alias was not an issue because “there is no other Mr. Iqbal who signed the document.”
“In signing the contract, his identity is clear. He has his biometrics. He has his passport and voter’s ID. He registered in time for the 2013 elections,” she said.
Legally liable
Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Iqbal may be legally liable and face imprisonment for signing official documents using an alias.
Lacson, in a radio interview, said Iqbal would need judicial authority to use his chosen alias in official documents. Without this, he might be imprisoned and fined under the law regulating the use of aliases, he said.
“If he can show a court order and he went through the judicial process allowed under the law… to use the name he used to sign, ‘Iqbal,’ then there would be no problem,” he said in the radio interview.
READ: Lacson questions Iqbal’s use of alias in signing official documents
He also warned that Iqbal’s signature on documents pertaining to the peace agreement could invalidate them.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles said Iqbal’s admission that he used an alias has put into question the sincerity and motives of the MILF.
“There was no absolute transparency and honesty on the part of the MILF peace negotiator. If we are really sincere, we should lay all our cards on the table and hide nothing,” Nograles said.
There is no legal risk that the peace process would suffer any setbacks because the chief rebel negotiator was using an alias.
This was the opinion expressed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima over lawmakers’ concern that the name of the separatist MILF principal negotiator, Iqbal, was just one of his many aliases.
De Lima said the use of a nom de guerre was common practice in revolutionary organizations.
Besides, Iqbal can no longer deny that he is, in fact, the man named Mohagher Iqbal, she said.
According to De Lima, the use of a pseudonym in this case would fall under the exceptions of Article 178 of the Revised Penal Code, which penalizes the use of a fictitious name.
“That won’t be a problem because we can say that he is deemed to be in estoppel already. He cannot anymore deny that it is his alias,” she said.
De Lima referred to a legal doctrine that “precludes a person from denying, or asserting anything to the contrary of, that which has, in contemplation of law, been established as the truth, either by the acts of judicial or legislative officers, or by his own deed, acts, or representations, either express or implied.”
One of many aliases
Iqbal admitted to using an alias, including the name by which he is popularly known, before a hearing at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, when he was confronted with allegations that he was, in fact, a Malaysian citizen.
He is known to have used his alias to sign the government’s peace agreement with the MILF, the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, in March last year.
Iqbal is also known to have used the name “Salah Jubair,” in publishing the books, “The Long Road to Peace: Inside the GRP-MILF Peace Process” and “Bangsamoro: A nation under endless tyranny.”
Some senators, led by Sen. Ferdinand Marcos, said they were bothered by the rebel’s use of an alias in signing documents pertaining to the peace agreement. Marcos, who chairs the hearings on the draft Bangsamoro basic law, said he would pursue the issue when discussions on the bill resume next week.
READ: Iqbal alias, MILF ‘deception’ may affect peace pact—Marcos
READ: Iqbal puts entire peace process in ’jeopardy’ – Marcos
De Lima believes that rebels should be allowed the courtesy of continuing to use their pseudonyms, or war names, when they are involved in peace negotiations, otherwise no peace process could proceed, she said.
“We have to understand that in revolutionary organizations, I think it is common practice among these rebel leaders to use a nom de guerre, and when there are peace negotiations and they need to surface to participate,” she said.
No threat to peace accord
Nor is the justice secretary unduly worried that Iqbal’s signing the peace agreement using an alias could invalidate the document.
“I don’t think it will affect the authenticity or the very legality of the document just because it is signed under a nom de guerre or an alias, because he already admitted that it is his alias. He can no longer deny such representation under the estoppel doctrine,” said De Lima.
De Lima said she would submit her formal position to the House on Monday. With reports from DJ Yap and Leila Salaverria
RELATED STORIES
Palace: MILF’s Murad, Iqbal are not Malaysian
Iqbal’s alleged use of aliases violates law – solon