Duterte doubts MILF will return firearms seized from slain SAF men

Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte        INQUIRER MINDANAO FILE PHOTO

DAVAO CITY – Asking the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to return the firearms seized during the Mamasapano clash would be like asking for their lives, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said.

Reacting to calls made by some ranking government officials, demanding the return by the MILF of the firearms seized from the 44 slain Special Action Forces (SAF) commandos in Mamasapano, Duterte said he had doubts if that would happen.

“Those firearms, I don’t think those will still be returned,” Duterte said, adding that firearms seized during any war or encounter were already considered “war booties,” and are equated with the lives of those who possessed them.

“It’s as if it’s their lives you are asking if you ask for those firearms to be returned,” he said.

Duterte also reiterated that despite the Mamasapano incident – during which 18 MILF members and several other civilians had also been killed – there was no other choice open but to talk peace.

“We don’t have any choice,” he said, “Why wouldn’t we? You cannot attain peace by simply killing all your enemies, everything will end back to the negotiating table,” Duterte said when asked whether the government should continue talks with the MILF.

“Look, what happened after the all-out war of (former President Joseph) Estrada,” he said, “I’m not saying it’s them, but how many explosions have we suffered? Davao City and Davao region have suffered so many bombings in the past,” he said, referring to the mysterious bombings at the airport and the seaport, which until now remained unsolved.

In Cotabato City, the MILF said all weapons its forces got from the fallen SAF members were still with its ground forces in Mamasapano, contrary to media reports some of them had already been sold.

“The firearms are still intact,” MILF chief negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal told the Inquirer by phone.

Without specifying the number of firearms belonging to the slain SAF members, which MILF ground forces now possess, Iqbal said the MILF has formed a team “to assess and do the accounting of all the guns taken by the 105^th Base Command.”

He said the MILF central committee has yet to decide also if it will return the firearms, as Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, had earlier requested.

“There is no decision yet made by the central committee but we are taking seriously their request,” he said.

Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chair for political affairs, said the result of the MILF’s investigation will play an important role in the group’s decision on the seized firearms.

“If we’re done with the official report of our men, we will have a deliberation and then we’ll decide if we will return their guns or not,” Jaafar said.

An alleged gunrunner interviewed by a television crew claimed he works as middleman for some armed groups in Maguindanao but his contacts in the MILF had told him that there was a plan to return the firearms so these could not be sold.

But the other military items, such as bullet proof vests and night vision googles, were now being sold to those who can afford them, the gunrunner said.

The same man said said his other contact from the armed groups in the area had made him sell four Lakefield biathlon B90 rifles from the same clash. These were bought by a politician, he said. The biathlon is a kind of sniper rifle.

Iqbal said the man could be referring to Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters gunmen and not MILF forces.

“I don’t think our men will sell what they got because it’s prohibited under our guidelines,” he said.

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