By Ronron
July 21, 2007
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is poised to take “punitive police action” against suspected members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) if it still does not turn over today (Sunday) to the government its members believed to have been responsible for the death of 14 Marine soldiers, 10 of whom were mutilated, last July 10 in Basilan province.
National Security Adviser and concurrent acting Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales said in a press conference Saturday in Camp Aguinaldo that the “plan for imminent police action in Basilan” has the blessing of the National Security Group.
But the MILF is taking the matter very seriously. MILF Public Information Officer chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview that they will alert all their forces nationwide, and not just in Basilan because the government “has just raised the possibility of an all-out war.”
“I have been advised by the Secretary of National Defense that I have the authorization now from the National Security Council to conduct operations that will be able to punish the perpetrators of the barbaric beheading in Basilan,” AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. told reporters in the same new conference with Gonzales.
“We have earlier given deadlines to the MILF to turn over to us the perpetrators. As we have their names, so they must also know who are the perpetrators. But should they fail to turn over the perpetrators, then we will go ahead with our punitive police actions against these perpetrators,” Esperon went on.
Esperon and Gonzales did not say when the police action will begin, but the former stressed: “The deadline that we gave them is Sunday.”
“I will honor the Sunday deadline. After that, we can take a range of actions that are legally permissible and morally upholdable,” Esperon said.
Asked to describe what “punitive police action” is, Gonzales said it is to run after specific targets at a particular area in Basilan or wherever the targets will go.
Esperon disclosed the target in their list include almost 20 personalities, most of whom are from the MILF, while the rest are with the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). He said these persons, whom he refused to identify before the press, were identified through military assets.
Defense Undersecretary for Legal and Special Concerns Ricardo Blancaflor explained in the same briefing that if the military begins its punitive police action, it effect arrest or apprehension of their targets.
“From the list, we understand that some of them have existing warrants. And together with the soldiers and the other (law enforcers), those without warrants (and we have fully identified them), they will be arrested in a military way,” Blancaflor said.
Once arrested or apprehended, they will then be presented before the proper courts, continued Esperon.
The police in Basilan have yet to charge the MILF and ASG members who are suspected to be involved in the July 10 clash with the Philippine Marines in Barangay Guinanta, Al-Barkah town.
Police said they are preparing multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder charges against members of the MILF’s 114 Base Command, and they expect to file the cases sometime this week.
Esperon said they will use elements of the existing two brigades – one from the Army and one from the Philippine Marines -, the recently deployed Marine battalion from Sulu, and the forthcoming Marine battalion from its main headquarters in Manila in the police action. The size is at least 2,000 in terms of individuals.
“We are preparing. We have been preparing our forces. They are now actually near the targets. So, when the deadline lapses, you watch out for it,” he told reporters.
But he assured that the operating troops will not be overwhelmed by their emotions, which could result to abuse of power and authority. “That is one of the reasons why we have to temporarily relieve some people so that the operations is not mixed with hatred,” Esperon said.
Last Thursday, the military relieved Lt. Col. Felix Almadrones as commander of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 8 and his operations officer, Maj. Nestor Marcelino, so they cannot influence the result of the ongoing investigation on the incident. The two led the troops that fought with the armed elements in Al-Barkah.
Esperon said there are 284 MILF members in Basilan, which include their targets, but Iqbal said their fighters there number to at least 1,000 if they include their civilian sympathizers.
“It’s a natural right of every person to defend his self when attacked,” Iqbal said when asked about the MILF’s plans to counter the AFP’s action.
Iqbal said that even if the AFP does not use the term “all-out war” in the forthcoming actions, the MILF will take it as such.
Iqbal reiterated that their members did not behead the engaged Marine soldiers, and that there is no need to turn over their fighters to the government because the incident “was a legitimate encounter.”
“It was not an ambush. It was defending out territory because they went inside even without prior coordination. Therefore, it was a legitimate encounter,” he said.
Iqbal hit Gonzales and Esperon for pushing for the turnover of their supposed erring fighters to the government even if the ceasefire agreement that was signed in 1997 and reinforced in 2001 clearly states that the principal has the right to impose penalties on their erring members.
Esperon particularly said that the government’s demand for the turnover of MILF members is “perfectly legal.”
Gonzales, for his part, said the government does not mind the MILF punishing their erring members. But he said that as a State, “they (erring MILF members) have to answer our laws. There are no exceptions to this.”
While both Gonzales and Esperon expressed optimism that the peace process with the MILF will not be affected by the looming violence in Basilan, Iqbal thinks otherwise.
“The peace talks will continue. As far as I know, it will happen very soon… We don’t want the peace process sabotaged but I think, the whole world understands that the barbarism that happened in Basilan cannot be allowed to just be forgotten,” Gonzales said.
But Iqbal said the military’s police action will “naturally” derail the peace process because, he said, the MILF cannot talk peace with the government if the fighting is continuing.
Asked about the prospects of the peace negotiations if the punitive actions take place, Iqbal said: “Let’s see what these developments will bring.”
The peace talks between the government and the MILF bogged down in September last year after the two parties failed to agree on the ancestral domain issue, particularly the number of villages that will be included in the MILF’s juridical scope.
Asked about the safeguards for civilians in Basilan should the punitive action begin, Gonzales said: “The Secretary for the Peace Process had already been given instructions to make sure that civilians are protected first and foremost, and second, in case there are evacuations, that we be ready.”
Esperon hinted that no civilian’s rights will be violated by their operation because they will specifically go to their targets, such as their houses, if necessary.
Close to a hundred elements of the 1st Marine Brigade had just finished verifying reports about the presence of abducted Italian priest Fr. Gian Carlo Bossi in the morning of July 10 when they came under fire in Barangay Guinanta as they were about to head back to base in Lamitan town.
Aside from the 14 killed, nine soldiers were wounded.
After his release from his captors last Thursday night, Bossi said he was sorry for the death of the Marine soldiers as he “felt responsible” for their demise.
Basilan used to be a war-zone a few years back because it used to be the haven of the ASG. But peace and order in the province improved after the Philippine government allowed the RP-US Balikatan military exercises to be held there for the first time in 2002./DMS
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