Philippine Troops Begin Hunt For MILF Raiders

Government troops patrol Lanao del Norte province in Southern Philippines where Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels killed dozens of civilians in simultaneous attacks. The Philippine military on Tuesday begin the hunt for hundreds of MILF rebels under Abdul Rahman Macapaar blamed for the traitorous attacks on unprotected civilians. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)

LANAO DEL NORTE, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 19, 2008) – Philippine troops on Tuesday hunted Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels blamed for a bloody rampage in Mindanao that left dozens of people dead and the peace talks in peril.

Troops begin tracking down hundreds of rebels led by Abdul Rahman Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo, a known hardcore leader of an MILF command, blamed by Manila also for previous deadly attacks against civilians and military in the troubled island of Mindanao.

As many as three dozen civilians were killed, including an army colonel and two soldiers, who were ambushed in Lanao del Norte province. Rebel forces launched simultaneous attacks on civilian targets before dawn Monday pillaging villages in Lanao del Norte, Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat provinces.

Television footages on Monday showed several houses and vehicles still burning in Kolambugan town in Lanao del Norte and the body of a man left near the road where rebels had passed. News video also showed civilians running away from a village in the town bringing nothing but bundles of clothes. The fighting turned Kolambugan into a virtual ghost town.

In Kauswagan town, at least 16 people were reported killed by rebels in the village of Lapayan. Witnesses said some areas in the occupied towns were burning after rebels torched houses and buildings as the fighting was raging. Radio reports said rebel forces burned down markets and set on fire small government buildings in the towns.

“The Western Mindanao Command will continue military actions to catch and neutralize those who are responsible for the violence in Lanao del Norte,” a military statement said on Tuesday.

“Troops from the Western Mindanao Command have cleared Kolambugan town in Lanao del Norte of Moro Islamic Liberation Front as the military continue to pursue the fleeing bandits taking with them innocent civilians the rebels used as human shields,” said Marine commander Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga.

The MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, said the attacks were carried out by rebels disgruntled over the slow pace of the talks and the failure of both sides to sign the ancestral domain agreement.

Peace negotiators have reached a deal in July on the ancestral domain, but the Supreme Court stopped the formal signing of the accord after politicians and lawmakers opposed to the deal filed their petitions and asking Manila to make public the rest of the agreement.

Ancestral domain is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement with the Philippine government.

Manila said there is need to amend the Constitution to allow plebiscite on areas under the ancestral domain that would make up the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity and give Muslims their own homeland.

“We will have to await the ruling of the Supreme Court. The President has made it very clearly that she is looking at all option possible to bring peace in Mindanao,” Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said on Tuesday.

He said the MILF attacks could jeopardize the peace talks. “The unauthorized MILF attack is jeopardizing the peace talks, creating havoc and atrocities, so how can we say that there will be peace in Mindanao?”

“It would appear as if they (MILF rebels) are threatening government to fast track (the signing of the ancestral domain agreement) but that has to go still to our processes, we have the Supreme Court process, it will go to Congress, we will have to call for a plebiscite and they will have to be patient. If they are unleashing their dogs (of war) then they are entirely wrong because they are jeopardizing the peace talks.”

Dureza said the government is currently assessing the situation in Mindanao after the MILF raids in the provinces.

“We are assessing all of these events now, how the MILF operates as an organization and how their troops operate whether they are under their control or not and ultimately how the MILF will take care of its own internal organization. We will also determine how we will ultimately deal with this whole issue of negotiations with them,” he said.

He said there was no justification for the rebels to mount attacks on civilian targets just because the signing of the ancestral domain was temporarily stopped by the High Court.

“I compared these (rebel attacks) to a shattered glass and it is going to be very difficult to put them back together; small pieces (of shattered glass) are very difficult to put back together, but despite of that difficulty, it is very important to bring back that small pieces of shattered glass together because peace is the only option we have.”

“There is totally no justification for armed groups without warning in a traitorous manner attacked unprotected civilians in many areas in Lanao del Norte and some other areas. There is no justification at all that armed groups invade areas, destroying communities, commit murder and violate the law whether they are uncontrolled people by the MILF,” Dureza said.

“With all these incidents, how can we say that everything is normal or that everything is business as usual? We are monitoring all of these because there are so many incidents already. Are people playing games with government? Government is very sincere in the effort to bring sustainable peace to Mindanao.”

Dureza said the MILF should punish those responsible in the attacks. “All we want to see is that no armed group, such as the group of Commander Bravo, be allowed to go unpunished and that is the exact statement of the President.”

“We need to have peace in Mindanao and all of these events now are glitches already on the radar screen. But we have to work towards sustainable peace as what the President has always clearly stated the alternative to peace is war and war is unimaginable scenario in Mindanao.”

Philippine military chief Gen. Alexander Yano said the MILF attacks violated the cease-fire agreement. “We have filed a formal protest (with the cease-fire committees) against the MILF for these attacks,” he said.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro also branded the rebel attacks in the provinces as a criminal act.

“This is plain and simple violations of the law and we cannot put any justification as to their actions, like they can be frustrated with the issuance of the TRO (Supreme Court's temporary restraining order on the signing of the ancestral domain deal between Manila and the MILF). This is not sufficient reasons or justification to commit an illegal act,” he said.

Manila opened peace talks in 2001 with the MILF, the country's largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting for the establishment of a separate Muslim homeland. And the ancestral domain covers the whole of the Muslim autonomous region – Sulu, Tawi-Tawi-, Basilan, Maguindanao and Lanao, including Marawi City. And some areas in Zamboanga Peninsula, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces in Mindanao where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. And also Palawan Island, off Mindanao.

Mohagher Iqbal, the chief MILF peace negotiator, admitted on Tuesday that there are factions in their group which is skeptical on government sincerity to the peace process, especially after the failed signing of the ancestral domain deal.

“We have been saying this repeatedly, even right at the beginning of the peace process, that there are sectors in the MILF, both political and military, which are against in negotiating peace with the government because their argument is the government is not sincere in finding just and lasting solution to the problems of Mindanao,” Iqbal said.

Iqbal said that Macapaar’s group is so frustrated with the slow pace of the peace talks that they launched unauthorized attacks in Mindanao. “MILF members are so frustrated with what’s going on. They believed that the government is insincere,” he said.

Iqbal also suggested that Manila make the peace process a national agenda, saying, the MILF cannot guarantee that similar attacks by disgruntled rebels would not occur in Mindanao.

“Some members and other groups are disgruntled with the peace process and they can mount future attacks even without telling the MILF leadership, otherwise, we will stop them,” Iqbal said.

Iqbal maintained the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain it initially signed with government peace negotiators on July 16 in Malaysia is a done deal. “As far as the MILF is concerned, the ancestral domain agreement is a done deal. We will not agree to renegotiate the MOA-AD,” he said.

Aside from the ancestral domain deal, peace negotiators last month also signed an agreement that will empower the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity to build, develop and maintain its own institutions, inclusive of civil service, electoral, financial and banking, education, legislation, legal, economic, police and internal security force, judicial system and correctional institutions necessary for developing a progressive Muslim society.

The MILF previously said it will not sign any peace deal with the Arroyo government unless its demand for self-determination is granted. Peace talks were also stalled last year after government negotiators reneged on the same deal. (With reports from Mark Navales and Merlyn Manos)