Enduring peace

In several countries, harboring a terrorist is a serious offense. It would be interesting to find out what those countries now think of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which showed its true colors by teaming up with the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters to prevent police commandos from getting Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir, a.k.a. Marwan, and his Filipino cohort Abdul Basit Usman in a house protected by the MILF and BIFF.

Police believe that the Special Action Force raiders got their target – but again the MILF-BIFF forces prevented the SAF from getting the body of the man believed to be Marwan in that operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Not content with holding on to the corpse and driving away the SAF raiders with blistering gunfire, the MILF-BIFF team butchered 44 of the cops. As described by the SAF men’s bereaved families, several of the corpses’ heads were smashed and limbs cut off. Andal Ampatuan Jr. would have approved. Uniforms, boots, mobile phones and other personal belongings were looted.

Marwan, as President Aquino himself told the nation, is wanted for a string of terrorist attacks, the most notorious of which was the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia that killed 202 people, 88 of them Australians, with four more Aussies killed in a 2005 bomb attack. I wonder what Canberra now thinks of the MILF and the group that it led us to believe was its rogue faction, the BIFF.

The SAF reportedly managed to cut off a finger of the man believed to be Marwan. This will be matched with the DNA of one of his brothers who is detained at the US naval facility in Guantanamo Bay, where the Americans hold high-value terror suspects.

By most accounts, the slaughter of the 44 SAF men, the escape of Usman and the failure to get Marwan or his remains were facilitated by one detail that was not factored into the planning: that the MILF would join the smaller BIFF in repelling the raiders.

Some reports said the Armed Forces of the Philippines ignored frantic appeals from the cornered SAF for reinforcements because the MILF was involved and the AFP had to respect the peace process.

P-Noy, trying to explain the failure of the AFP to respond, blamed the SAF commander for disobeying his standing order to coordinate properly. The military was not given enough time – in all those 12 hours – to send in reinforcements, P-Noy said, sounding like he was mouthing the explanations of his defense and AFP chiefs.

P-Noy laid out his “minimum” demands, which are for the MILF to identify the killers, return the SAF weapons and show sincerity. Reasonable enough, but as in previous attacks, the MILF has ignored P-Noy’s call.

Be calm, P-Noy urged the nation. But people are calm, and justice is not being equated with retaliation or “all-out war” but with accountability. It’s the MILF-BIFF that’s running amuck.

The peace process has come too far, P-Noy said. But the Arroyo administration also came close to forging a peace agreement with the MILF. Aborting it did not diminish the nation.

Privately, P-Noy should consider cutting the nation’s losses, and junk any dream of getting a Nobel Peace Prize. You can’t talk peace with a lying, treacherous, murderous group. The government’s peace panel has done a great job and it’s a shame to let its work go to waste, but some things are simply beyond its control, particularly the trustworthiness of the other side.

Even foreign governments may want to reassess the aid they are giving or committing to give to the MILF at various stages of the peace process. It’s not paranoia to suspect that some of that aid will be used to procure weapons, set up a regional center for bomb making, and support terrorists whose next victims might be citizens of the donor countries. Foreign aid for the Muslim region can be channeled through other agencies.

Moro National Liberation Front chieftain Nur Misuari, during his disappointing stint as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, used public funds to build up a private arsenal that he later used in his mini rebellion. Why should we think MILF leaders are incapable of doing the same thing?

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This doesn’t mean people want “all-out war” or are giving up on peace and development in the Muslim areas. Life is precious and war is expensive. But the approach to peace need not be overly dependent on one group, especially when it is found to be making a fool of the nation.

The government called off peace negotiations with the communists over trust issues. Classified as a foreign terrorist organization, the communist party and its armed wing saw their funding sources dry up. Joma Sison lost his welfare privileges in his adopted homeland, the Netherlands – one of the world’s most liberal nations. The New People’s Army has been reduced to extortion and occasional raids on remote police and military outposts. NPA attacks on private businesses, which drive away investments and jobs, alienate it from the people.

The government is instead pursuing peace at the lower levels of the insurgency, discussing demands for social justice and improving governance in conflict areas. At the same time, the military has embarked on a program to win hearts and minds at the grassroots.

In Muslim Mindanao, the government can reach out to tribal and clan leaders to continue pursuing peace and development while at the same time isolating troublemakers and providing effective law enforcement. The region has competent, credible Muslim leaders to spearhead the program. It won’t make headlines, but it can achieve results.

It’s easy to commit to decommissioning. But for every rifle or pistol surrendered, how many are hidden for future contingencies? Will the MILF turn over grenade launchers? Weapons don’t come cheap. Where does the MILF get its funding?

If we want enduring peace and not just peace in photo ops, we must go into this with our eyes wide open. Are we even on the same page as the MILF? We want peace in the Muslim region; does the MILF have a larger, longer-term goal, such as the creation of a pan-Islamic state, as espoused by Marwan’s JI and its mother group al-Qaeda and the barbaric Islamic State?

It’s better to ask these questions at this point than regret the consequences of signing blindly on the dotted line now and asking questions later.

Peace does not have to be 100 dependent on one group. You can allow yourself to be fooled once, twice, but beyond that you are a sado-masochist who deserves the tragic consequences of being a fool. It sounds better in Filipino: uto-uto.