Gov’t, MILF panels agree to probe Al-Barka clash further

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front negotiators have agreed to allow further investigation of the October 18 clash in Al-Barka, Basilan which claimed the lives of 19 soldiers and six rebels.

The military and the MILF had accused each other of breach of the ceasefire agreement following the clash.

In separate statements issued after Thursday’s talks in Kuala Lumpur, both the government and the MILF panels said a deeper probe of the Al-Barka incident was needed.

“We agreed that investigations through the ceasefire mechanisms shall continue to be conducted. These include those to be done by the International Monitoring Team in coordination with the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities and the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group,” Marvic Leonen, government chief negotiator, said in a statement the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process had issued after the talks.

Leonen said the government would wait for the result of the investigations and study the recommendations the IMT and the Ahjag would be making.

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, said in a statement released by the rebel group that they also “reaffirmed” their cooperation to the government’s effort against organized crimes.

“The MILF will continue to cooperate with government with respect to its efforts to interdict kidnap-for-ransom groups, criminal syndicates, and “lost commands” pursuant to the Joint Communique and Implementing Guidelines of the AHJAG,” Iqbal said.

Both panels were silent on the issue of the arrest order against Dan Laksaw Asnawi, the MILF commander the military has been trying to capture in Al-Barka.

The rebel group was firm about not yielding up Asnawi to authorities.

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the arrest order against Asnawi would be enforced anew.

Gazmin’s statement came in the wake of admission from ranking military commanders in Mindanao that fresh soldiers had been deployed to Basilan.

Leonen, meanwhile, said that there were also other substantive gains in Thursday’s meeting of the panels, and these include the leveling off of both parties on concepts and common grounds.

“As we had hoped, we agreed to move forward on the substantive agenda and meet again very soon for this purpose,” he said.

In Tacloban City, Leyte Vice Governor Mimietta Bagulaya praised the efforts of Mindanao groups to prevent the escalation of conflict between the military and the MILF.

In a statement issued when she welcomed participants of the Lakbayan Para sa Kapayapaan on Thursday, Bagulaya described the war in Mindanao as “useless.”

“War causes misery not just to civilians but also to soldiers and rebel fighters and their families,” she said.

“We are all Filipinos and we live under one country-our Philippines, it’s like we are all living under one roof, and there is no need to fight,” Bagulaya said. With a report from Bobby Lagsa, Inquirer Mindanao