ZAMBOANGA CITY, 15 July 2007 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday reaffirmed her commitment to pursue peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) but said those responsible for the ambush and beheading of 14 soldiers in Basilan have to be punished.
“We will not allow those who committed barbaric acts to hide under the negotiating table,” Arroyo said as she led officials yesterday in paying their respects to the fallen Marines.
The 12,000-strong MILF is the largest Muslim rebel group fighting since 1978 for a separate Islamic state in the southern Philippines. It is holding peace talks with the government.
While negotiations have been suspended since September 2006, the two sides have been planning to resume formal talks in Malaysia within the month.
“We will run after those who killed our Marines, but we will not run away from the peace talks,” she said, adding: “Only principled warriors deserve a seat on it.”
“If the perpetrators are Abu Sayyaf, the MILF must stand apart from these terrorists and allow their pursuit and interdiction by government forces. If MILF forces are culpable, then they must be accounted for by the cease-fire committees and be brought to justice,” Arroyo earlier said.
The flag-draped coffins of the Marines were flown early in the day from Zamboanga City to Villamor Air Base in Manila’s suburb of Pasay and were brought to the headquarters of the Marine Corps in Taguig for the traditional vigil.
The military said the Marines were sent to search for kidnapped priest Giancarlo Bossi in Al Barka town of Basilan Island, 900 kilometers south of Manila, and were returning to their base in Lamitan on Tuesday when they were attacked.
Ten of the 14 fatalities were later found by local officials minus their heads and genitals, the military said.
Officials blamed the attack on the Jemaah Islamiyah-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
MILF leaders said only their fighters were involved, denying the presence of Abu Sayyaf militants in Al Barka. They said their guerrillas were only defending their positions from encroaching soldiers.
Nonetheless, MILF leaders said they were investigating who decapitated the fallen soldiers, saying it was an un-Islamic act that the group will not tolerate.
The MILF has formed a three-man panel to investigate the incident, said rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu.
“There is an ongoing investigation to determine what went wrong,” he said.
Kabalu also warned that a major military offensive against MILF positions in Basilan will only create more tension.
“Both sides should let the probe go on and wait for the results. A military offensive will worsen the situation and may destroy the gains of the peace process,” he said.
Khalid Musa, vice chairman of the MILF’s information committee, said that guerrilla forces in Basilan were preparing for a major defensive response against attacks by government troops.
“We will defend ourselves at all cost,” he said. “We will remain in defensive position but will fight back if provoked.”
The MILF also rejected demands by the military to return the weapons its fighters captured during the attack. “We will not return the weapons. The fighting was a legitimate encounter after the military violated the cease-fire (agreement),” said Mohagher Iqbal, chief of the MILF panel negotiating peace with the government.
Among the weapons seized by rebels were four machine guns, a bazooka, five M203 grenade launchers, two M14 rifles, five M16 rifles, among others.
Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan, a spokesman for the Marines, said 500 more soldiers were sent to Basilan not only to hunt for those responsible for Tuesday’s attack but to continue to search for Bossi. The priest was seized by gunmen on June 10 in nearby Zamboanga Sibugay province and believed to have been taken to Basilan.
Police and military authorities blamed the kidnapping on a group headed by Akiddin Abdusallam, whom they alleged was an MILF leader.
Iqbal and Kabalu said Abdusallam was kicked out of the MILF long ago because of his criminal past and has then joined the Abu Sayyaf. (With input from Agencies)
