CAMP DARAPANAN (Maguindanao): Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief Murad Ebrahim has reiterated his group’s commitment to the peace process despite the bloody clash between police commandos and Moro fighters.
On Tuesday, police director Getulio Napeñas admitted that he did not coordinate with the military before launching “Oplan Wolverine,” the disastrous Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (SAF) operation to get Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” a Malaysian terrorist for whose capture dead or alive the United States has offered a US$6mil reward.
According to the MILF chief, he did not want the peace agreement to be the bigger casualty of the encounter that prompted some lawmakers to withdraw their support for the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) pending in Congress.
The clash also generated calls from other sectors for the government to abandon the peace process.
Another all-out war against the MILF as suggested by former President Joseph Estrada would only lead to another round of peace negotiations, according to Murad.
He said it was only logical for both the government and the MILF to continue with what they had begun.
“War is not new to us but I think it is time that we realise that even if we fight now, ultimately we will be returning to a peace process. So, if there is still hope for this peace process, why (don’t we) see it through?” said Murad. He emphasised that the BBL was a “political process.”
“I don’t see any relevance of connecting the political process with the security challenge we are facing because this is entirely different,” Murad said.
He met the media at the MILF headquarters here on Wednesday, a few hours before President Aquino was to address the nation, following the death of 44 SAF members in what the government described as a “misencounter” with MILF fighters.
The SAF fired the first shots at the MILF fighters in Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano town at the break of dawn, according to Murad.
The MILF chair noted that it was the first time MILF fighters engaged police commandos as big as the group that they encountered on Sunday.
In fact, the MILF fighters did not even recognise the uniforms of the SAF, Murad pointed out.
The MILF has convened a special investigative commission to look into the firefight. “Our concern is the truth. There are a lot of speculations as to what happened and until what happened is established with credibility and integrity, the said incident will weigh down our efforts to bring peace to our homeland,” Murad said.
He reiterated “the MILF’s full commitment to the peace process with the Philippine government,” saying that “an enduring peace and justice remain to be our primary objective.”
Murad appealed to the public to neither blame the MILF nor describe the incident as a “massacre.”
The MILF lost 11 men and nine were wounded in the firefight. – The Philippine Inquirer/ANN-thestar
