MILF still working on own findings

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has yet to conclude its findings on the involvement of its fighters in the killing of 44 police commandos in Mamasapano on Jan. 25.

MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal yesterday said its Special Investigative Commission has yet to wrap up its probe on the incident.

Iqbal admitted the killing of the 44 policemen of the Special Action Force (SAF) in Mamasapano has had an impact on the peace talks with the government.

The 44 policemen were part of a team of SAF troops on a covert mission to capture one of the world’s most wanted terrorists hiding in a remote village in Mamasapano.

The raiding policemen figured in separate firefights with the MILF and the separatist Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

The violence has thrown into doubt the peace process aimed at ending a 45-year conflict that has killed 120,000 people, displaced two million and stunted growth in Mindanao.

Public outrage over the killing of the policemen and questions surrounding President Aquino’s handling of the issue have blow up into his biggest political crisis.

“Trust has been affected,” MILF chairman Al Haj Ebrahim Murad said. “We are studying to see if the approval of the police operation came from the highest level of government.”

Iqbal, however, said their findings indicated that only 17 MILF rebels were killed in the encounter, not 18 as previously reported.

He said their investigators also found out that only three, not five, civilians perished in the incident.

“A revalidation of some facts on the incident is still being initiated. There were some circumstances that led to the Mamasapano incident that we need to examine and validate again so we have to send again our investigators to the area to check,” Iqbal said.

According to Iqbal, the ongoing military operation against the BIFF in Mamasapano has also caused constraints and delays in their investigation.

Iqbal said the MILF in Mamasapano has moved out to areas designated by the joint ceasefire committee to allow the military to go after the BIFF.

“These are among some reasons why we have not yet completed our investigation on the Mamasapano incident,” Iqbal said.

Iqbal added their findings will first be submitted to Malaysia, through the International Monitoring Team (IMT), before it can be transmitted to the peace panel of the government. Malaysia acts as a conduit for communications between the MILF and the government’s peace panel.

“This procedure is based on a bilateral communication protocol set by the government and the MILF many years ago. We have to abide by this procedure,” Iqbal said.

Murad, on the other hand, said their initial investigation indicated there was no coordination from the government.

“Based on our findings, it was not a mistaken encounter,” Murad said, adding the police saw his group as an enemy.

“They attacked our community and our forces,” he added.

The Jan. 25 clash erupted when the SAF tried to infiltrate a rebel area to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, with a $5-million US bounty on his head.

The government said at the time the incident was a mistake and President Aquino appealed for the peace process to remain on track, but lawmakers working out the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) upon which peace hinges have stopped their work.

According to the Philippine National Police Board of Inquiry report submitted to the PNP leadership on Thursday, Aquino had approved the mission. Aquino has said he was given wrong information and misled.

Murad did not say what the MILF will do if Aquino was found liable for the police mission but said it was a violation of the ceasefire.

A civil engineer by training, Murad said he met Aquino on Jan. 13 to raise concern about the delays to the BBL in Congress.

He also said he was not informed of the police operation to capture Marwan in their territory.

But Murad said the MILF was committed to the peace process and would work with a new government if the talks went beyond the end of Aquino’s term in June 2016.

“The President’s political capital is dwindling and there’s a possibility the (BBL) will not be passed on time,” Murad said. “The next president, whoever is elected next year, is bound to implement the peace agreement.”

Murad, however, warned the MILF would not accept a watered-down BBL. Aquino and his allies in Congress are hoping the autonomy deal will be passed by June.