Justice far off in Basilan

If one takes a boat cruise around the island of Basilan  now not a tourist haven  one cannot fail to appreciate the scenic beauty of the coast and the green mountainous terrain.

There is an air of serenity as fishermen on small bancas patiently wait for a catch till nightfall, and the dolphins play off the shore of Tuburan town.

That serenity betrays the long-seething socio-political-military conflict in Basilan.

Early this week, on board a basnig (pumpboat) with 40 others, I had the chance to circumnavigate Basilan, enjoying the sights and experiencing that feeling. It was my fourth visit to Basilan, but the first time I went around the island by sea.

No, our group wasn’t on a pleasure cruise. We came on a peace and justice fact-finding mission in Al-Barka town, specifically in Barangay Cambug (population: 1,400), to look into the effects of the armed clashes there last October 18 between government soldiers and Moro Islamic Liberation Front forces. At least 19 soldiers, including four young officers, and five MILF fighters died.

Our mission coincided with the investigation into that incident by the International Monitoring Team under the ceasefire agreement between the government and the MILF.

From Isabela City, Basilan’s capital, Al-Barka Vice Mayor Ustadz Sakib Haron and Cambug barangay chair Idris Asnawie accompanied us throughout the mission. They provided detailed information on the conditions in the area.

For good measure, I was invited, with a small group, to meet with Dan Laksaw Asnawie, deputy commander of the MILF 114th Base Command, at the center of sitio Bakisong (his birthplace), near where the Oct. 18 clashes occurred. He recounted that incident, and the 2007 incident in Ginanta (also in Al-Barka), for which the government accuses him of being responsible for the beheading of Marine soldiers slain in battle.

Asnawie flatly denied responsibility for the beheadings. In 2007, he recalled, the GRP-MILF Ad Hoc Ceasefire Committee and the MILF Central Committee had ordered him to go to Ginanta to stop the fighting. He did so, he said, and left the area not long after the fighting had ceased, with the Marine forces still holding their position. 

Now, Asnawie is being charged with multiple murder over the Oct. 18 incident by the Basilan provincial prosecutor, Musor P. Muti, on the basis of an affidavit-complaint submitted on Oct. 24 by Col. Ukol M. Paglala, judge advocate of the AFP Western Mindanao Command.

Asnawie’s comment: “No murder was committed. There was a series of clashes: at 5:30 a.m., 6:30 a.m., and 9:30 a.m. If I am to be charged, it should be for rebellion, not multiple murder.”

The Nov. 4 subpoena issued by Muti includes as respondents, aside from Asnawie, 15 names and aliases, plus “300 others John Does and Peter Does, residents of Barangay Cambug…” The subpoena directs all to submit counter-affidavits and supporting documents within 10 days after receipt, warning that failure to comply shall be deemed waiver of their right to present evidence, and the case shall be deemed submitted for resolution “based on the evidence on record.”

The subpoena has spawned concern among Cambug officials and residents, in light of previous experiences since 2001, when then President Arroyo declared a “state of lawlessness” in Basilan. Hundreds of civilians were picked up and detained as “lawless elements,” without being charged or tried in court for years. One group, dubbed as the “Basilan 73,” has been detained for 10 years now in Bicutan, Taguig City.

Provincial Administrator Tahir Latif told me of the case wherein only one witness identified 100 “John Does,” causing their arrest and incarceration. Eduardo Sanson, law dean of the Western Mindanao State University, talked of three persons arrested and detained for bearing the same name as a “wanted” person who had died.

Making matters worse, Latif and provincial jail warden Abdullah Sintalab pointed out, only one state prosecutor is assigned to these cases in Basilan — who also handles cases in the two Zamboanga provinces (Sur and Norte). “Justice delayed is justice denied” prevails in Basilan, they lamented.

On the “multiple murder” charge, look at how the military builds its case:

Col. Paglala’s affidavit-complaint states that the AFP unit, including “students of Military Scuba Diving Course Class 42-11,” went to Cambug “to launch a law enforcement and clearing operation” but “they were ambushed by armed groups…” He bases his identification of the respondents on the “nationwide television broadcast interviews” of Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman, (who) “equivocally and in no uncertain terms admitted that the government troops encountered members of the (MILF)…”

What really is a “law enforcement and clearing operation”? The MILF leadership avers that the AFP did not notify them of the supposed law-enforcement operation, as required under the ceasefire agreement. According to Asnawie, the troops crept into the Batisong community at 5:30 a.m., a civilian who saw them sounded the alarm, and the MILF forces interdicted them. (The fact-finding team video-recorded houses partly damaged during the fighting.) 

In response to the Oct. 18 incident, President Aquino has called for “all-out justice” (presumably for the 19 fallen soldiers). The people of Al-Barka and Basilan ask: “When will justice come to us?”

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