The peace panels of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front met in Kuala Lumpur last November 3, the first time after the October 18 incident where MILF rebels killed 19 soldiers during an encounter in Basilan.
Malacanang said Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles informed the MILF panel of President Aquino’s position that peace talks will continue while the military is pursuing criminal elements in Mindanao.
Palace deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte said the MILF panel has been informed that the group is not being targeted as an entity. “Rather, this is a law enforcement operation to pursue lawless elements and that anybody who will be caught giving shelter or coddling these lawless elements will likewise be liable,” Valte said.
The talks were not formal like those in August when the MILF did not approve of the government’s proposal for a genuine autonomy as opposed to the MILF’s demand to establish a sub-state in Mindanao.
The last time the GPH and MILF peace panels met was on August 22 and 23. The meeting was a full-panel meeting – attended by the five-person-each panels.
Meanwhile, the MILF vowed to defend its camps that are recognized by the joint ceasefire committee after the government announced plans to conduct pursuit operations against lawless elements in Basilan.
“We will defend ourselves,” said MILF provincial political officer Abu Majid said in the website www.luwaran.com. MILF rebel leader Dan Asnawi was implicated in the killing of 19 soldiers.
For the military’s part, Armed Forces spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. assured that their troops would not enter Basilan without proper coordination with the ceasefire panels.
MILF spokesman Von Al-Haq earlier said that while the MILF believe and respect the pronouncement of President Aquino that he would not embark on an all-out war with the MILF, “we have no way but to defend our camps from any encroachment not permitted bilaterally by the government and the MILF’s joint ceasefire committee.”
Al-Haq said there is mounting apprehension among MILF guerrillas and civilians residing inside their supposedly government-recognized enclaves in Basilan that the military would attack as a punitive action against the gunmen that figured in the eight-hour encounter in Al-Barka.
He said any escalation of the conflict in Basilan could affect the fragile peace in other provinces where there are MILF forces.
Though the government has clarified that the peace talks will continue, it did not provide amplification on who these “lawless elements” are and what constituted their lawlessness.
Take the case of Asnawi, whom government tagged as behind the beheading of ten Marines in 2007. The MILF is still in the opinion that Asnawi is not a criminal but a victim of what it calls an unjust justice system. Asnawi, whom the military labeled as a “lawless element,” is the second highest MILF commander in Basilan. How, then, must “lawless elements” be identified and eliminated?
This question must be answered convincingly to prevent risk to both sides in the battlefield and in the civilian populations affected by the fighting. So far, no criminal has been apprehended but tens of thousands have been affected by the offensives. The prospects for peace in Mindanao continue to be uncertain.
