Get out of our way, AFP tells other MILF commands

MANILA, Philippines – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) warned the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday to stay out of the way of “intensified military actions” against two rebel commanders responsible for the deadly attacks on Christian-dominated communities in North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte early this week.

Brig. Jorge Segovia, acting chief of the AFP command center, said the military has stepped up operations – including air sorties – against Amirel Umbra Kato and Abdullah Saber Macapaar alias Commander Bravo who led the attacks that left more than 30 people dead and thousands displaced.

“We are running against the members of these three base commands so we are asking the rest of the MILF to get out of the way. If they join, we will not be able to distinguish if they belong to the group or not. Our order now is to pursue this group wherever they go,” Segovia said. The two are the chiefs of MILF’s 102nd, 103rd, and 105th base commands.

Segovia said the warning also applies to other armed groups that might sympathize with Kato and Macapaar and stage attacks in other parts of Mindanao.

“Anybody who will support these groups that we are pursuing, and will join them, sympathize with them becomes also a part of our operations,” he said. “In simple terms anybody who harbors the fugitive becomes liable. It’s that simple,” he said.

“We hope this will not lead to escalation but if they provide sanctuary then the operation will hunt them down wherever they may be, and they have to suffer the consequences,” he said.

“But this is not just a military thing. I think the public is tired of all these excuses; rhetoric could not justify the loss of lives of people,” he stressed.

He said that while the MILF claims that disciplining the two commanders is an internal matter, they are still subject to the laws of the country and must face the consequences of their actions.

“The crimes that were committed by them are punishable under our laws so that is what we will apply,” he said adding that the two commanders’ actions showed a “leadership problem” within the MILF.

Segovia also laughed off Bravo’s warning that he and his men are prepared to fight to the last man.

“If they say they will fight to the last man, then let them die until the last man. We will run after them at all cost,” he said.

Segovia said other units were on standby for possible deployment to North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte if the need arises.

The Southern Luzon Command led by Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit was the latest to send troops to Mindanao. Its contingent is led by Lt. Col. Jed Motus.

Segovia also shrugged off claims by Macapaar that the 31 MILF rebels under his command who surrendered Wednesday night were part of a breakaway group.

“Of course our intelligence people are involved in the investigation and we will utilize whatever information we will get from them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Col. Daniel Lucero, chief of the army’s civil military operations group, said the military will ensure that human rights will be protected in the operation against the rebel forces.

“Army soldiers were reminded that they should not be provoked to pursue punitive actions against MILF perpetrators beyond the Army’s treasured moral principles,” he said in a statement.

Army Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna, who is helping supervise the operation to hunt down the two commanders, said up to 6,000 soldiers and police were involved in an offensive against an estimated 3,000-strong rebel force operating in Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato.

Lay down arms

As hostilities between the MILF and the government troops heighten, President Arroyo asked yesterday the rebel group to lay down its arms if it wants the peace talks to resume.

Mrs. Arroyo issued the statement as Palace officials announced the cancellation of the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.

“These recent developments in the South lead to a change in our basic premise of our peace efforts—the focus of our talks shall shift from the armed groups to the communities,” she said in a speech at the opening of the 2nd Philippine International Motor Show at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. “The parameters governing our negotiations shall be a balance between constitutionality and public sentiment,” she said.

She said the government’s engagement with all armed groups would focus on “disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation or DDR.”

“DDR is about the people and government telling armed groups to give up armed struggle. Change shall be defined primarily by the people and the government,” she said.

She said that while MILF’s “treacherous acts clouded the prospects of an early positive conclusion of the peace process,” the government remains committed to peace and that “we are not at war with the Muslims.”

Newly elected ARMM officials promised to help the national government disarm the MILF but admitted the task would be very difficult.

“It would be hard to convince the MILF. If they did something wrong, they would deny that they were responsible for it,” reelected ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan said yesterday after his oath-taking at Malacañang.

MILF nixes turnover of chiefs

Meanwhile, the MILF refused to turn over the two rebel leaders who led the killing spree in Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato.

“We are a revolutionary organization. We will never turn over our men to them. We have our own internal justice (system),” Mohagher Iqbal, chief MILF peace negotiator, told reporters by telephone.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, in an interview with dzMM, said the government cannot sign a peace agreement with “an organization that doesn’t have control over its commanders.”

“We should expect him to surrender and bring to government the two commanders who are clearly responsible for these acts,” Dureza said, referring to MILF chairman Al Haj Murad. “Nothing short of that is acceptable to government.”

Different voices

Former President Fidel V. Ramos urged Malacañang yesterday to return to the negotiating table not only with the MILF but with other concerned sectors as well.

“The ball is in the court of the chief executive but there is a scarcity of political will on the part of the elected officials,” Ramos said.

“Let’s go back to the negotiating table and deal with the peace talks in a transparent way. After all, the Muslims are not the only group that belongs to the Bangsamoro people. And Mindanao is not only for them,” Ramos stressed.

Sen. Richard Gordon, meanwhile, expressed support for an all-out war against the MILF rebels involved in last Monday’s carnage.

But he stressed the government should still pursue peace with the rebel group.

“I support total war against the specific rebel group but not total war against the Filipino people,” Gordon told reporters at the Usapan sa Daungan sa Danarra hotel forum in Quezon City.

Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza, for his part, lashed out at Murad for his alleged failure to discipline his commanders.

“I heard him say on television that he would send emissaries to Commanders Umbra Kato in the Cotabato area and Bravo in Lanao del Norte with orders for them to stand down and stop attacking civilian communities. That means he is not in control of these two,” he said.

He said that if Murad had control over the two, he should have communicated his order directly to them.

“The way I see it, the MILF is some sort of a coalition composed of small independent groups such as those led by these rogue commanders. They are trying to seize territories on their own. It’s not a remote possibility that they will soon fight each other for territory and supremacy,” he added.

“As much as possible, we would like peace to prevail by all means in addressing this current crisis. And the best way to settle this conflict is for government and MILF to call for a ceasefire and settle the issues back on the negotiating table,” Edgardo Lacson, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the House committee on national defense, Rep. Arthur Celeste vowed to recommend a “substantial budget” for the troops fighting the MILF. With Paolo Romero, Ramil Bajo, Perseus Echeminada, Jess Diaz, Michelle Zoleta, Michael Punongbayan, Delon Porcalla, Ma. Elisa Osorio, and AP