Peace at all cost

The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation (MILF) signed last Friday in Kuala Lumpur the protocol on the implementation of Terms of Reference of the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB). This is the last component of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) that the government forged with the MILF in March 2013.

The IDB is the body that would supervise the decommissioning of the weapons and firearms that the MILF rebels would turn over as called for in the CAB. In turn, the implementing part of this CAB is the passage into law of the Bangsamoro Basic Law still undergoing public hearings in both chambers of the 16th Congress.

But as I gathered, the decommissioning component of the CAB is not included in the BBL currently stalled in Congress. This BBL has become more unpopular following last Sunday’s atrocities to 44 slain government troopers trying to serve warrants of arrest on two most wanted terrorists hiding in MILF camps.

The government and the MILF proceeded to sign these documents a few days after the January 25 bloodbath in Mamasapano in Maguindanao. A total of 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) were killed in action and twelve wounded in the battlefield. The MILF would later claim 18 of their own men were killed while 14 others were wounded.

The elite SAF troopers were mercilessly mowed down, some even beheaded by the lawless elements from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), aided by MILF forces and their cohorts from other private armed groups operating in the area.

At the joint press conference in Kuala Lumpur after they signed the IDB protocol, MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal released the names of their own casualties in what he insisted anew as “mis-encounter” between the PNP-SAF and the 105th Base Command of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces based in Mamasapano.

“The encounter in Mamasapano wasn’t intended by either side – government or MILF,” Iqbal declared. The operation was intended against the BIFF which Iqbal pointed as the ones coddling fugitive terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and Basit Usman.

Government peace panel head Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, for her part, disclosed that MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim personally handed over the list of 75 weapons to the IDB head ambassador Haydar Berk last January 22.

But how about the high-powered firearms and brand new Glock handguns looted from the 44 slain SAF troopers? Iqbal hemmed and hawed, saying they would await the findings of the investigation on that incident.

Both negotiating panels have acknowledged the Mamasapano incident has brought out the latest complications of this peace pact: How this peace pact could bring justice cried for by families of the slain SAF troopers?

In his address to the nation three days after the incident, President Aquino announced the creation of a Board of Inquiry to investigate what went wrong in Mamasapano. The President disclosed Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas II has formed the Board of Inquiry to conduct a full-blown investigation into the lapses and other issues of alleged lack of coordination that botched the operation to capture Marwan and Usman.

Ironically, the task was given to Roxas who along with PNP acting chief Gen. Leonardo Espina admitted earlier they were kept out of the loop when the Mamasapano operation was launched without their knowledge. Suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima along with SAF chief Getulio Napeñas were allegedly the ones directing the operations and reporting directly to President Aquino. Marwan was allegedly killed, but still subject to verification. Usman escaped. And, Napeñas subsequently was relieved.

Addressing the necrological rites held last Friday at the SAF’s headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, President Aquino vowed the inquiry would hopefully prevent a repeat of similar tragedy. “We will do our utmost to gain justice for all those who perished and for the loved ones they left behind,” the President swore.

Making up for his no-show at Villamor Airbase for the arrival honors for the 42 slain SAF troopers the previous day, the President – assisted by his sisters – held 13-hour marathon meetings with each family of the slain troopers given burial honors at SAF headquarters.

Offers of financial assistance and other benefits to their dependents poured in but wives and children of the slain SAF men cry out for justice.

Obviously taking the cue from President Aquino, Ferrer announced during the same joint press conference with their MILF counterparts that investigations into the Mamasapano incident would continue. She said members of the international monitoring team (IMT) are now on a field verification mission in the areas concerned.

However, Ferrer conceded amnesty and pardon for MILF members facing charges in court are part of the normalization phase of the peace process and reconciliation.

Ferrer reassured all concerned they will have specific parameters and each will be treated on case-to-case basis. “Even though you grant amnesty, we know under international humanitarian law, there are exceptions,” Ferrer stressed.

Former agriculture secretary Senen Bacani, a member of the government negotiating team, has urged whoever was behind the Mamasapano incident to come out and accept responsibility. Bacani once served in the Cabinet of P-Noy’s late mother, former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino.

“The ongoing investigation should bear out facts in terms of accountabilities on both parties. Whoever are accountable should be held responsible for their actions. In their heart of hearts, they know who they are. It doesn’t have to wait for results of investigations,” Bacani told the joint press conference in the presence of Iqbal and the rest of the MILF panel.

During her presidency, Mrs. Aquino adhered to the policy of “reconciliation with justice” in dealing with the criminal and ill-gotten wealth cases of the Marcoses and cronies.

P-Noy must embrace the same policy of “reconciliation with justice” to honor the sacrifice of lives paid for by the 44 SAF troopers. Peace at all cost is no peace. It becomes a sell-out.