EDITORIAL - Credibility problem

The other casualty of the daylong clashes that led to the brutal killing of 44 Special Action Force commandos is public trust in the sincerity of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in pursuing peace. It’s good that MILF peace panel head Mohagher Iqbal finally faced the Senate probe the other day, wherein he reiterated his group’s commitment to the peace process.

The nation is waiting for the commitment to be matched by action, starting with the return of the weapons and personal belongings looted from the 44 SAF commandos and identification of the killers who were harboring top Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir, a.k.a. Marwan, and Abdul Basit Usman.

Iqbal was evasive on several issues, notably when confronted by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano with reports that the MILF has a clandestine weapons factory in Barangay Katol in General Salipada Pendatun, Maguindanao. As Cayetano pointed out, the peace process binds the MILF to stop any weapons buildup as it commits to decommissioning.

The facility in Barangay Katol, as indicated by Cayetano, is believed to be manufacturing one of the most lethal weapons in the world, the Barrett .50-caliber armor-piercing sniper rifle. The clandestine weapons factory is surely not licensed by the US Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Company to produce its guns, even if these are only knockoffs.

Iqbal was evasive about the clandestine factory, but he noted that the firepower of the weapons used in the Mamasapano clashes might have caused the mutilation of the bodies of several of the 44 slain SAF commandos. As bereaved relatives lamented, limbs of several of the so-called SAF 44 were cut off or mutilated and faces were unrecognizable. Several of the fallen SAF men were stripped of their uniforms.

The nation is taking a gamble on yet another peace process, putting its trust on a movement that from the start has shown lack of control over the numerous armed groups that have sown terror from Mindanao to Metro Manila. The clash in Mamasapano, where one of the world’s most wanted terrorists was found to have taken refuge, has badly shaken public trust, fragile as it was, in the MILF’s commitment to peace. Returning the SAF weapons and coming clean on the reported clandestine arms factory would help in the arduous task of rebuilding shattered confidence.