Military commander asks MILF: Step aside, let us get criminals from your ranks

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines —The top military commander in Western Mindanao  called on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), on Saturday, to step aside and allow authorities to run after suspected criminals, who happened to be MILF members too, especially in the Zamboanga peninsula.

“The MILF should be advised that they have commanders and members, who continuously destroy the image of the MILF by venturing into criminal activities hiding under the guarantees provided by the peace process,” Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer, Western Mindanao command chief, said.

Ferrer issued the statement in the wake of ambushes staged by MILF forces in Kabasalan and Alicia towns in Zamboanga Sibugay on Thursday evening, in which, seven soldiers and policemen were killed and eight other government men had been injured.

The Kabasalan and Alicia ambush occurred barely two days after MILF forces also killed 19 soldiers in Al-Barka, Basilan.

Ferrer said the soldiers and policemen killed in Alicia and Kabasalan were part of the operation against Waning Abdusalam, whom he said, was owned by the MILF as a commander based in Payao town, also in Zamboanga Sibugay.

“Being an MILF member does not excuse him from being pursued by authorities for past criminal acts such as extortion, kidnapping, murder, etc.,” Ferrer said.

Von Al Haq, MILF spokesperson, said the ambush was in retaliation for previous military operation in Payao, including the shelling of MILF camps there.

Al Haq said that when the operation started about two weeks ago, the MILF called the attention of the government peace panel.

But he said the government panel told the MILF the operation was not against the rebel group but directed at suspected kidnap-for-ransom groups operating in the area.

“However, reports from the area did not show that the target was KFRG (kidnap-for-ransom groups) as only MILF forces were there in the firing line being bombarded by artillery fires at the upper ground of Sitio Taeb,” Al Haq said.

He said irate MILF rebels moved on their own and staged the ambushes.

Al Haq also said if the military had a beef with any MILF commander for their alleged unlawful activities, it should have asked the government panel to coordinate with the MILF rather than just launch attacks at will.

“If indeed the target was KFRG, then the government should have utilized and coordinated the mission with the GPH (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and MILF Adhoc Joint Action Group in order to ensure the protection of the ceasefire and the peace process,” he said.

But Ferrer said the MILF should have policed its own ranks in the first place.

“The MILF says that it does not accept criminals in the organization hence, (its officials) have the obligation to police their own ranks,” he said.

Ferrer said for the police and the military, Zamboanga Sibugay would be better off without Abdusalam “and his band of gangsters.”

“It has to stop and the MILF should allow legitimate authorities to carry out their mandates,” he said.

For days now, military air strikes and howitzer attacks have been carried out in Payao, Al Haq said.

The latest was on Saturday, when the military shelled anew MILF positions in Barangay (village) Labatan as rebels were performing their early morning prayers, he said.

Al Haq said the military’s action was the opposite of what President Benigno Aquino had said. “The Armed Forces is doing another thing,” Al Haq said.

Aquino earlier said there would be no offensive against the MILF despite calls from both military and civilian officials.

“The military’s artillery attack was ongoing. This is not a good ingredient for the peace talks. We are worried it may end up in a full-blown war,” Al Haq said.

As to the military’s call to surrender Dan Laksaw Asnawi and his followers following the clash with Special Forces in Al-Barka on Tuesday, Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, said the rebel group would not do it.

Asnawi was accused of involvement in the beheading of Marines, also in Al-Barka in 2007, and kidnap-for-ransom activities.

He was subsequently arrested in the aftermath of the 2007 beheading of soldiers but managed to bolt the Basilan provincial jail in December 2009.

“Why are we going to surrender them? It was the military who attacked their position. Beside, they are covered by our existing truce,” Iqbal stressed.