By Ronron
July 30, 2007
Authorities are prepared to effect the arrest today (Tuesday) of selected members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) even as the ceasefire committee of the government and the MILF has yet to finish its investigation on the July 10 incident in Basilan that killed 14 soldiers, 10 of whom were mutilated.
Regional Police commander in the Autonomous Muslim Mindanao, Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, and Basilan Provincial Police commander Sr. Supt. Alex Macapantar separately told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview yesterday afternoon that no order from higher authorities have so far reached them about not proceeding with the serving of the arrest warrants today.
“We, the PNP (Philippine National Police), will be serving the arrest warrants tomorrow (Tuesday)… The standing order was to implement it (serving) tomorrow and there is no order not to serve it,” Goltiao said.
“If there is no blocking (order) today or tomorrow, we have to go,” Macapantar said for his part.
On Friday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to hold off until Monday the serving of the arrest warrant against the suspects behind the July 10 incident to give way to the investigation by the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) of the government and the MILF.
Arroyo said the arrest warrants will be served by the PNP, backed up strongly by military troops.
But the President said the operations against the suspects from the ASG will continue.
That same day, the six-man fact-finding mission of the CCCH kicked off its investigation and as of yesterday, it has yet to be finished, said MILF-CCCH chairman Von al-Haq.
“We have not yet finished. We expect more witnesses tomorrow,” al-Haq said in a phone interview yesterday.
Al-Haq said his counterpart with the government, Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea, has already relayed their concern to government peace negotiator with the MILF, retired Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, who is expected to convey it with the Philippine executive branch.
“The fact-finding team should not be restrained by any time frame. Otherwise, the investigation will suffer,” al-Haq said.
The mission was tasked to find out the circumstances that led to the July 10 incident, those responsible for the mutilation, and any violation to the ceasefire agreement signed in July 1997. It is also expected to come up with recommendations to avoid an occurrence of the same incident.
In an interview late afternoon yesterday, AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. said the final determination of whether or not the police action will proceed today will be through National Security Adviser and concurrent acting Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales.
“If it will not push through, you will know it tomorrow (Tuesday),” Esperon said. “But as of now, there is no directive to halt it (serving the arrest warrants).”
Esperon said Gonzales is expected to make an announcement about it today in Zamboanga City.
The military chief said he has received information from the Cabinet earlier in the day that the CCCH fact-finding mission is asking for one or two days of extension to their investigation period.
In response to that, Esperon said he submitted his recommendation to Gonzales, but refuses to disclose it to reporters.
Macapantar said he already received at around 10:30 am yesterday (Monday) the arrest warrants against 127 persons issued by Judge Leo Jay Principe of the 9th Judicial Region court, Branch 1 in Basilan last July 26.
Macapantar said the warrants is based on the multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder case filed by the AFP before the Zamboanga City Prosecutor’s Office.
“It is different from the case we filed here last Thursday but we have the same respondents,” Macapantar said in Filipino. The case filed by the Basilan Police has only identified 16 MILF and ASG fighters, while the rest are “John Does.”
He said they are already prepared to serve the arrest warrants, especially that the law gives police 10 days only to notify the judge of their action to the warrant.
“It is very shameful if we don’t implement that,” Macapantar said.
Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) commandant Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga warned that if their targets resist the arrest, then “fighting will start.”
Esperon told reporters in an interview earlier in the day that the internal probe of the AFP on the July 10 incident, conducted by various Inspector Generals, found that what happened was an “ambush” that later become a firefight, as the military had initially claimed.
“Our troops were on the road. They were aboard vehicles. They were not in the offense mode. And so, if indeed there was an intrusion in their (MILF) territory, the right thing to do would have been to file a protest,” Esperon said.
But he said they are still validating the data they got as regards those responsible for the mutilation.
The investigation also found “a need for some action on the armaments and some ammunition that we have.” It can be recalled that during the firefight, some 81 mm mortars of the engaged Marine troopers failed to fire.
“We have taken the corrective measures,” Esperon said./DMS
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