BIFF rejects call to join peace talks

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines --- The bandit group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters on Thursday rejected the appeal of government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer to join the peace process and help in the creation of a Bangsamoro political entity under the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro (FAB).

“They can continue with what they plan to do, while we continue with our struggle for Bangsamoro independence. We can’t join in that on-going peace process,” Abu Misry Mama, spokesman of the outlawed BIFF, said in Filipino.

Misry said they also cannot return to the fold of the MILF, where their founder, the Saudi-trained cleric Ameril Ombra Kato, was a member of.

Kato began as chief of the 105th Base Command of the MILF, but was booted out in 2010 due to insubordination and irreconcilable differences with the group’s central committee.

Ferrer had called on the BIFF to join in the peace process, saying use of guns to seek redress has long been outmoded by peaceful means of resolving misunderstandings.

Ferrer’s counterpart in the MILF, Muhaquer Iqbal, who is also chairman of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), said they are still open to accepting Kato and his followers if they renounce extremism and support the peace process.

Iqbal told reporters, during the launching of the BTC’s central office in Cotabato City February 8, that they have tried all means to convice  Kato and his followers to return to the MILF, but failed.

“But we have not cut the bridge that can reconnect him to the MILF,” Iqbal said.

Misry said they cannot support the peace process that would marginalize their bid for a puritan Islamic state in Southern Mindanao, based on historical facts that Muslims, or Moro communities were already in the region even before the spread of Christianity in the 16th century.

The BIFF, launched by Kato in late 2010, is feared for banditry and for its terror activities.

The group, tactically, is being led now by Ustadz Karialan, one of the trusted lieutenants of Kato, after the latter suffered a  stroke in 2011. Kato, who has been immobile since, remains as the spiritual figurehead of the group though.

Misry also refuted insinuations that they have  fused ranks with a faction in the Moro National Liberation Front led by Nur Misuari.

Misuari has been critical of the government-MILF peace talks, warning that the FAB and the creation of a Bangsamoro political entity will effectively nullify the September 2, 1996 peace pact between the government and the MNLF.