MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / 12 Mar) – The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said sporadic clashes in the strife-torn island of Mindanao may soon subside after Manila vowed to remove a decorated commander of military forces they blamed for the fighting.
Manila is currently negotiating peace with the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, which is fighting for self-determination in Mindanao.
Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF chief peace negotiator, said he was told by the government peace panel that the Philippine Army would replace Major General Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the 6th Infantry Division in central Mindanao.
“I was told that General Pajarito would be replaced. Pajarito is the cause of all these troubles and fighting in Mindanao the past months,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said Pajarito would be replaced by Major General Raymundo Ferrer, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, based in Pulacan town in Zamboanga del Sur province, west of Mindanao.
Pajarito is one of the most decorated commanders in the southern Philippines and has been largely credited by civilians for keeping the peace in the troubled region.
Both Pajarito and Ferrer could not be reached for comment.
Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a regional army spokesman, said he was not aware of the report. “We have not received anything about General Pajarito and as a matter of fact, we have just come from a conference today and nothing was discussed about that,” he said in a separate interview.
Fighting the past months in Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces in central Mindanao have killed and wounded dozens of people.
The MILF blamed Pajarito for the skirmishes and warned the continued fighting is threatening a fragile six-year old cease-fire in Mindanao.
Iqbal accused government soldiers of attacking rebel forces in Mindanao the past months, breaking a 2001 truce agreement. The attacks killed and wounded scores of rebels and drove thousands of Muslim villagers fleeing their homes.
“The fighting and the continued attack of government forces are now threatening the cease-fire agreement. It is now under threat and in danger of collapsing unless the government acts swiftly to save the peace process,” Iqbal said.
But Ando blamed the rebels, saying, they were attacking government troops and detachments without provocation.
“We are not the problem. The rebels are attacking us and the MILF violated the cease-fire agreement many times in the past,” he said.
Iqbal accused the 6th Infantry Division of derailing the peace talks.
“Troops are encroaching in our areas and government planes were bombing our positions and we cannot do anything, but defend ourselves and our people,” Iqbal said.
He said clashes were also reported in the provinces of Maguindanao and Shariff Kabunsuan. Government troops, backed by helicopters and war planes, were attacking MILF forces, in the guise of pursuing Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants.
Iqbal said soldiers also killed two Muslim civilians – a grandmother Taute Taha and teenager Rasul Balat – in Maguindanao’s Datu Saudi Ampatuan town.
President Gloria Arroyo opened up peace talks with the MILF in 2001 and signed a cease-fire agreement, but despite the truce fighting still continues with the two sides accusing each other of breaking the accord.
On Sunday, MILF and military seized more than two dozens soldiers and rebels from both sides after a near firefight in Lumba Bayabao town in Lanao del Sur province.
All the hostages were freed after a tense negotiation between senior rebel and military commanders.
Arroyo on Monday met with top officials of the Cabinet Cluster on National Security in Manila to discuss the worsening situation in Mindanao.
“The best course of action to ensure that the hostilities do not escalate andare exploited by lawless elements is for the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to work closely with the established mechanisms of the peace process—the joint ceasefire committees, the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group and the International Monitoring Team—to keep combatants in place; and increase vigilance against those intent at breaking the peace, at agitating the people, at pitting the Government against theMILF and communities against each other,” she said.
Arroyo she decided to step up all measures to enforce the law, preserve the atmosphere of peace and stability, and advance the ongoing peace talks.
She ordered the Department of National Defense and the AFP to review and amend the current guidelines on the “Primacy of the Peace Process” and strictly adhere to the cease-fire accord without impairing the operational flexibility and quick response of the AFP in countering threats of terrorism, insurgency and criminality.
“All commanders in the field are enjoined to be constantly aware of the strategicimplications of tactical actions in the proximity of MILF areas. I have alsoordered restraint in the use of artillery and aerial bombing in the conductof military operations,” Arroyo said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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