Murder raps vs 185 MILF men dropped

The government has dropped criminal charges against 185 Muslim separatist guerrillas blamed for the bombing of the Davao City International Airport and the Sasa wharf that killed 38 people in March and April last year, the military said yesterday.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed last week multiple murder and frustrated murder charges against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels led by its former chief Salamat Hashim, who died last year, in a bid to speed up peace talks, the military said.

Among the senior MILF leaders charged were former vice chairman for military affairs Al Haj Murad, vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar, committee on cessation of hostilities chairman Benjie Midtimbang and spokesman Eid Kabalu.

"The case has recently been dismissed by the Department of Justice when this (case against MILF) was elevated to their level, citing the primacy of the peace process," Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, public information chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said.

Lucero said justice officials also took into consideration independent reports by two commissions that showed a "lack of incriminating evidence" against the MILF members.

The snail’s pace police investigation of the twin bombings prompted non-government organizations Maniwang Commission and the Initiatives for Peace Mindanao to conduct their own probe and release their findings.

No other suspects have been named by the government.

Thirty-eight people died and scores were wounded when a bomb ripped through a crowded waiting area outside the Davao City International Airport on March 2 last year and at the Sasa wharf on April 4.

Authorities claimed the MILF’s special operations group carried out the twin bombings with the approval of the top MILF leadership then headed by Salamat.

MILF officials denied the charges, saying these were the handiwork of the military and police to malign them.

The MILF had demanded that the government drop the charges against its leaders and withdraw government forces from a former rebel camp as conditions for the peace talks.

The military said it completed the pullout last month.

Lucero said the dropping of the charges will pave the way for the resumption of formal peace negotiations between the government and the MILF in Malaysia, an Islamic country facilitating the negotiations.

"The government panel is gearing up preparations as well as coordinating efforts of government agencies to address issues by the MILF during the fifth exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur," Lucero said.

The next round of negotiations are supposed to take place this month. No exact date was given but Lucero said this will be determined by the Malaysian government, being the third party facilitator, in consultation with the two parties.

The MILF has been waging a separatist rebellion in Mindanao since 1978. It signed a truce with Manila last year and denounced links to foreign terrorist organizations, making it easier for peace talks to progress.

Last March, a five-member presidential commission cleared former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus, former chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), of any involvement in the twin bombings.

In a report to President Arroyo, the Maniwang Commission headed by a parish priest in Davao City, said there was no evidence linking either Reyes or Corpus to the blasts.

The panel’s findings belied allegations of the so-called "Magdalo group" behind the failed mutiny in Makati City on July 27 last year that Reyes and Corpus had a hand in the attacks.

The release of the report coincided with the first anniversary of the blast on March 4 that ripped through a crowded waiting shed outside the Davao International Airport which left 16 people dead.

The second blast occurred 28 days later at a row of food stalls at the passenger terminal gate of Sasa wharf. Twenty-two people were killed.

Reports however said the Mindanao Truth Commission — an independent fact-finding body created by In Peace Mindanao — contradicted the Maniwang Commission’s findings.

While it said in its report that there was no evidence to link the MILF, the Abu Sayyaf or a "third force" to the twin bombings, there was "substantial evidence" to back the allegations of the Magdalo group.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz said he is not opposed to the proposal of lightly arming members of the international peace monitoring team to be deployed in Mindanao to oversee the ceasefire agreement between government troops and MILF fighters.

About 60 Malaysians comprising the peace monitoring contingent will be casually armed to protect themselves.

"This is for self-defense (so) that’s allowed," Cruz said.

Aside from Malaysia, other countries sending their peace monitoring contingent are Brunei, Bahrain, Libya and Bangladesh under the banner of the International Monitoring Team to ensure the enforcement of the government-MILF ceasefire agreement. - With AFP report