Massacre of SAF: Honest answers to restore peace

The massacre of police commandos has so enraged majority Christian Filipinos to demand voiding of the ceasefire with Moro rebels. Even ethnic Muslims in Western Mindanao, from where a number of the Special Action Forces hail, want Congress to ditch a bill that would carry out the peace pact. But having staked his Presidency on expanding Moro autonomy, Noynoy Aquino would hear nothing of ending the accord. To his rescue, political allies taunt that “only the usual critics” are asking for preempting the fact-finding of the circumstances behind last Sunday’s “unfortunate mis-encounter.”

Yet sticking to peace is the right path, though not for the legacy that the Aquino admin seeks. Through all the cries for blood, it is Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Esmail Murad who is talking sense. That should not be surprising. For over two decades Murad was the separatists’ vice chairman for military affairs. The soldier more than anyone else wants peace, for he is the first to bear the brunt of war. In an interview in his Maguindanao camp near Mamasapano town where the fighting had erupted, he walked newsmen through the history of that war. It’s proven, he said, all want normalcy. Every offensive, whether by the government or the rebels, has ended in ceasefire. Even if the SAF butchering reignites hostilities, both sides eventually will rue the loss of lives, then return to the negotiation table. So why go to war at all when aware of its futility?

The killing of the 44 and wounding of 16 cops has cracked public trust in the peace process. It hurts both ways. The MILF suffered nine dead and 12 injured. Families in opposing camps are grieving. From the grief, trust can be rebuilt.

That’s where an honest fact-finding comes in. Only truthful answers, not politicking and propagandizing, will restore peace.

The first hurdle is who shall comprise the board of inquiry. It would be practical to seat it not with government and rebel protagonists but eminent citizens acceptable to both. P-Noy and Murad can put their heads together on it. For confidence building, it would help if the MILF returns the government rifles and personal belongings taken from the fallen lawmen.

To be sure, some questions already have been answered, and just need revalidating. Like:

• Was the SAF target, Malaysian terror bomber Zulkifli Marwan, killed in the shootout, although his Filipino henchman Abdul Basit Usman escaped? Both sides say so. An exhumation and autopsy, plus eyewitness accounts and photos, can confirm it. That means the SAF mission already was accomplished, before the battle with the MILF.

• Were Marwan and Usman’s huts outside the three MILF Base Commands — 105th, 106th, and 115th — in the marshland? Again both sides say yes. There are aerial photos of it. The huts are also outside but near the territory of the renegade Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which had joined the battle.

• Why did it take the MILF three hours to realize it was battling with lawmen of a government with which it has a ceasefire? Vice chairman Gadzali Jaafar says it is because they did not readily recognize the SAF uniform, which is different from the National Police’s regular blue, the Army’s fatigue, and the Marines’ camouflage. Plausible, for it was the first time for any SAF unit to enter the zone.

But from that arises prickly questions for the fact-finders:

• Did the SAF inform the local Ad Hoc Joint Action Group, of government and MILF peace sub-panelists, that it was to serve arrest warrants at dawn? A survivor claims they did, but were ignored. The MILF somehow confirms this, but explains that it naturally took time to ensure no deadly pursuit of retreaters before disengaging from battle.

• Which MILF command did the SAF encounter? The rebels are inconsistent on this. Vice chairman for internal affairs and chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal says the rebels only returned fire after the SAF shot at the house of 105th commander Zacaria Goma. The next day Jaafar claimed that neither the 105th nor 118th participate. That leaves only the so-far mum 106th.

• At what point did the BIFF join in? Both the MILF and the BIFF say it was when the SAF, then out of ammo, strayed into the renegade zone. Inquiry must proceed from the fact that the BIFF of Commander Ameril Umbra Kato had splintered three years ago from the MILF’s 105th which he used to head. Described as “one umbilical cord,” the 105th and BIFF are kinsmen from adjacent barrios. In contrast, the BIFF has rido (clan disputes, mostly over land) with the 106th and 118th.

• Why did not the Army 6th Infantry Division come to the aid of the trapped cops? Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin says the SAF had contacted the military only at “tactical level.” This means “last minute,” with the lower field brigade. The brigade lamely claims it couldn’t help out because it knew not the battlefield and enemy involved. In truth, the military is under political orders to not mix up with law enforcement or rebel intramurals, lest it escalate tensions. The fact-finders can verify how many times the police were denied military chopper flybys to extricate them from heavy fighting.

• Was National Police chief Alan Purisima involved? No SAF operation of such size can be launched without consent of its headquarters director Getulio Napeñas. Four hundred men had assembled from nearby Datu Piang town, General Santos City outside the Muslim Autonomous Region, and faraway Zamboanga City. Napeñas in turn must clear it with higher authorities. Yet neither officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina nor Interior Sec. Mar Roxas had been informed. Napeñas, briefing the two, Gazmin, and miitary chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang after the debacle, reportedly admitted to have cleared it only with Purisima, who is presently suspended while under probe for graft.

• Did P-Noy know of SAF entry to the rebel heartland? This is the touchiest item for the fact-finders. They can start with his presence in Zamboanga City the whole of the previous day, ostensibly to condole with the kin of a terrorist bombing fatality. He does not usually do that.

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