ZAMBOANGA CITY, 17 December 2005 — Government negotiators talking peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday sought to calm down senior military commanders in the southern Philippines over their fears of duplicity on the part of the separatists.
The military has accused the MILF of violating a four-year old truce by allegedly engaging in massive recruitment of guerrillas in at least 8 provinces and towns in the southern Philippines, and preparing some for terror attacks.
MILF leaders have strongly denied the accusation and countered that certain elements in the military were trying to derail the peace process.
Manila’s chief peace negotiator, Silvestre Afable, flew to Zamboanga City yesterday and briefed dozens of generals and senior military officials at the Southern Command about the progress of the peace talks with the MILF.
Among those in the conference were Southcom chief Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan, generals Gabriel Habacon, Cardozo Luna, Agustin Demaala, Alexander Aleo, Raymundo Ferrer and Nehemias Pajarito, among others.
Presidential aide Jesus Dureza also attended the closed-door conference and told reporters when he arrived that he will brief security officials about current development projects in the south.
“I will discuss a lot of things, mostly on the ongoing government development projects and priority programs in the southern Philippines,” Dureza, who is also the chairman of the Mindanao Development Council, said.
Maj. Gamal Hayudini, Southern Command spokesman, said the meeting was also part of an annual security assessment, where military commanders submit their list of accomplishments.
“The presence of Afable and Dureza only coincided with the Southern Command conference, and they briefed the military about the progress of the peace talks and development projects in Mindanao,” Hayudini said.
Manila opened peace talks with the MILF in 2001 in an effort to end more than 3 decades of bloody fighting in the southern Philippines, but despite a cease-fire, rebel and military forces continue to engage in sporadic armed clashes with both sides accusing each other of violating the fragile truce.
The military insisted the rebels broke the cease-fire accord.
“We maintain what we say and we have documents to back our reports about the MILF violations of the cease-fire. They continue to recruit and train rebels in Mindanao,” said Col. Domingo Tutaan, the Southern Command chief of staff.
While the military supports the government peace process, it said it will not allow the MILF to use the cease-fire agreement and negotiations to build up its forces.
“We continue to observe and support the primacy of the peace process, but the military also has to perform its mandate for the conduct of internal security,” said Tutaan.
Presidential peace adviser Ramon Santos said there were no indications that the MILF violated the fragile truce agreement.
The MILF has accused the military of scuttling the peace talks, now on its final stage.
Adan said intelligence reports suggested that as many as 4,000 were recruited and trained by rebel forces in at least 8 provinces and towns across Mindanao.
The trainings included an indoctrination to suicide attack missions, commando and guerrilla tactics and warfare, and weapons and explosives, among others.
Western intelligence had previously linked the MILF to the Indonesian Jemaah Al-Islamiyah group and the Al-Qaeda terror network.
Adan said: “There had been decentralized and specialized training activities with the purpose of enhancing the military skills of its members and maintain their war-fighting preparedness.” He warned the MILF to cease from recruiting civilians and training rebels in the strife-torn region. But he did not say if the military will take offensive action to stop the rebels from continuing their activities.
“I am warning the MILF that any training activity that is military in nature is considered an offensive action. The Southern Command will not take these violations lightly and allow such deceptive strategy to continue,” Adan said.
