The search for truth and justice in the massacre of 44 police officers belonging to the Special Action Forces (SAF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao should not lead to the abrogation of the peace process in Mindanao. The valiant 44, died with their boots on, killed in a flurry of bullets with some fired at close range, while the policemen were in pursuit of two well-known international terrorists.
As Filipinos weep for its fallen heroes, some quarters warn of an even greater tragedy if unresolved issues surrounding the bloody encounter would lead to a breakdown of talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The MILF, one of the largest Muslim rebel groups in Mindanao, has returned weapons seized from the fallen policemen.
It is incumbent on both the government and MILF, therefore, to cooperate fully and respect the people’s call for truth and justice. Questions in the public mind continue to persist: Who had operational control and supervision before, during, and after the massacre of police forces? Why were there no reinforcements from both the police and the military when clearly the police contingents were suffering heavy casualties? On that fateful Sunday, what were President Aquino’s instructions to both the PNP and AFP as their commander-in-chief?
Calls from various sectors for the MILF to prove sincerity as government’s peace partner continue to mount. As a revolutionary group, the MILF finds itself answerable to public opinion, something that it never had to contend with before. It remains reliant on the Aquino administration to defend the peace process and the agreement signed in March 17 for a Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro. However, the MILF also has a foot in government’s door being part of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), a government-funded body tasked with drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
The BTC’s composition —with 8 appointees from the MILF and 7 representatives from government — lends it self to the national dilemma over the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). Members of Congress are adamant over the need to amend its provisions so that the proposed law will conform to the Constitution, rather than the other way around. The MILF has said that it would not accept a watered-down version of the BBL.
We now have three processes interconnected because of a bloody massacre at play: 1) Truth-seeking through the various inquiries into the Mamasapano incident; 2) Legislative process now on hold to give way to the first, for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law; and 3) the over-arching peace process between the Philippine government and the MILF.
It is the third process that all stakeholders regardless of ethnicity, personal ideology, and political affiliations must strive to uphold and protect. The BBL is not the peace process, nor is the peace process solely to be judged on the fate of the BBL. However, certain agreements signed by both parties before the world would have to be considered in the context of the formal peace process and its inherent mechanisms. Continuing discussions and negotiations for peace must continue with an open mind, and with respect for previous and current agreements. We may disagree on some of the provisions of the comprehensive peace agreement and the draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law but let us agree on the need to talk peace with rebels who see, feel, and have expressed the need for it.
Closing that door may embolden more radical groups to storm the gates of freedom, negating everything that the SAF 44 fought and died for.
