President Arroyo on Monday ordered Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles and the panel negotiating with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to present to the rebel leaders evidence that had led to the recent arrest of four suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members in Mindanao. In effectively vetoing a request to release the suspects to the MILF, she simply urged them âto avail themselves of the cease-fire process to thrash out any controversy.â The suspected J.I. terrorists are also members of the MILF. She said, âThe peace process must go hand in hand with the antiterrorism campaign to box out terrorists to deny them sanctuary. Both the government and the MILF leadership are committed to fighting terrorism and we must not allow a wedge to divide this common stand.â
In Cotabato City the MILF immediately accused the military of torturing two of the four suspects to force them to confess they formerly worked with a senior J.I. leader and participated in previous bomb attacks. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said in a telephone interview Monday that Sammy Abdulgani alias Boy and Abu, Datu Puti Ungka alias Pots, Montasser Ismael alias Raffy, and Badrodin Dalungan alias Badz, are MILF members and innocent of the allegations against them. He alleged having information about bruises and markings from torture on the bodies of their men -- one of them apparently Abdulgani -- and added they are contemplating suspending the peace talks until the suspects are released. The other âconfessed J.I. memberâ had not been publicly identified yet. Kabalu added the MILF will demand that a committee of government and rebel representatives investigate the allegations.
But in another interview in Koronadal City over radio, Kabalu said another thing. He told a radio interviewer the peace talks âwould not really be affectedâ by the arrests and the MILF would still continue talking peace with the government even as he slammed the military for presenting the suspects âwithout passing through the appropriate channel.â
| Meaning to get MILF approval? |
âThey [military man] bypassed the joint CCCH [Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities]. Considering that they are legitimate members of the MILF, they should have first sought the CCCH as this is the appropriate body that should look in the issue,â added Kabalu.
Vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, also a member of the cease-fire committee, said he will wait for the guerrillas to file a complaint of mistreatment before discussing with them the allegations against the suspects. On the claim of Kabalu that being MILF members the four should be released, Garcia said that, âWhether they are MILF or not it doesnât really matter because they were caught red-handed.â Seized allegedly from the suspects were 4 kilos of trinitrotolouene (TNT), 20 rounds of rocket-propelled grenades, 10 rounds of 81mm mortars, pistols and hand grenades.
| That does make it inconvenient, but to a true MILF negotiator like Lipless Eddie the facts are irrelevant... |
Garcia said the suspects have already confessed to links with J.I. and gave as reason that âthe MILF no longer wants to practice terrorism.â In a radio interview the suspects supposedly said their terror activities may not be sanctioned by the MILF leadership.
| Thereby putting a nice face on it for MILF... |
Kabalu also rejected the claim by Sixth Infantry Division chief Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga in a radio interview that the suspects have confessed their involvement in bombings. Kabalu alleged that Ismael, Abdulgani, Ungka and Dalungan were tortured and were forced to admit during interrogation that they participated in previous bomb attacks on Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat and Datu Odin Sinsuat and Parang towns in Maguindanao. âIt is a standard operating procedure of the military to torture enemies of the State they arrest. Even I myself was tortured before by soldiers,â said Kabalu. âOur Central Committee already asked both members of the government and MILF Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities to convene any time this week to handle and investigate the allegation of the military.â |