Palace: AFP did not breach rules of engagement

BIFF REBELS. In this Oct. 7, 2012, file photo, fighters of the breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters are seen inside their camp in the town of Datu Saudi in Maguindanao. On Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, fighting erupted between Army soldiers and BIFF rebels in Maguindanao, two days after the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front successfully ended negotiations to end a decades-long insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people. JEOFFREY MAITEM/INQUIRER MINDANAO

MANILA, Philippines –Malacañang assured the people that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police did not commit any actions that could have broken any rules of engagement in approaching a splinter group of Islamic rebels in Mindanao.

Herminio Coloma, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary, said in a media briefing Thursday afternoon that the joint forces of the AFP and the PNP were to prevent members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) from entering areas under the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

“We have to understand that the top concern of the AFP and PNP is to ensure the safety of our people,” Coloma said in a press briefing.

He added that the government troops did not breach any rules of engagement in approaching such groups and that the AFP and the PNP considered the protection of human rights of the members of the BIFF.

As for the area concerned in the fighting in Maguindanao, Colonel Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the 6th Infantry Division, stationed in Datu Odin Sinsuat, said that they encourage the runaway rebels to coordinate with local officials to have their wounded comrades treated.

“We encourage the BIFF to coordinate with the local officials to treat the wounds of their comrades,” Hermoso said. “This is for humanitarian consideration, they are still Filipinos after all.”