IMT chief appeals to AFP, MILF to preserve ceasefire pact

SIONGCO, Maguindanao — The outgoing chief of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team bade his Filipino military counterparts here yesterday an emotional goodbye.

Major Gen. Dato Zulkifeli, whose year-long tour of duty as IMT chief ends this week, also appealed to both the Armed Forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to continue preserving the ceasefire in potential flashpoint areas.

"Both sides must nurture the peace we now have in many areas covered by the ceasefire," said Zulkifeli, who will go back to Malaysia next week.

Zulkifeli will be replaced by an equally decorated compatriot, Major Gen. Dato Pahlawan Soheimi Bin Abbas, who was also present in the simple farewell gathering hosted here yesterday by the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

The IMT, composed of military officers from Malaysia and Brunei, and civilian representatives from Libya, has been helping enforce the ceasefire between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the MILF in Southern Mindanao since October last year.

Zulkifeli said he would likely be given a division commander’s post when he is back in Malaysia.

Zulkifeli has earned the admiration here of local officials for his extensive role in amicably settling misunderstandings and border disputes between guerilla and government forces in many areas covered by the ceasefire.

While performing his job as ceasefire monitor, he has also actively campaigned for multi-sectoral support to the on-going GRP-MILF talks.

Zulkifeli and his subordinates in the IMT, which has an operation center in Cotabato City, were also essential in helping reconcile clan wars between feuding factions whose clan wars have somehow affected the ceasefire.

The 6th ID’s commander, Major Gen. Agustin Dema-ala, described Zulkifeli as a "real officer and a gentleman."

Dema-ala said Zulkifeli was instrumental in preserving the fragile peace in many areas covered by the ceasefire.

The incoming governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, said his administration will extensively support the IMT’s effort of monitoring the ceasefire.

A big bulk of the MILF’s forces are scattered in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both component provinces of ARMM.

Elected on Aug. 8, Ampatuan, who will take over the regional leadership from outgoing ARMM Gov. Parouk Hussin on Sept. 30, said he will direct all his constituent-mayors in the region to help provide mobility to members of the IMT and peace negotiators of the government and MILF when they move around to monitor the ceasefire.