PIMENTEL RAPS PALACE FOR CHANGING FIGURES. Opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has accused Malacanang of engaging in "dagdag-bawas" to cover up its mistake when it ordered the military offensive in Mindanao that has made refugees of thousands of civilians there.
The term "dagdag-bawas" was originally coined to describe vote-padding or shaving in elections. In this context, Pimentel said the Macapagal administration has resorted to "dagdag-bawas" with Presidential Chief of Staff Rigoberto Tiglao's assertion over the weekend that there were only 3,500 civilian evacuees from the Mindanao conflict, rather than the 318,000 displaced persons the senator had earlier claimed. The "dagdag-bawas" was meant to hide (the Palace's) blunder when it ordered the bombing of so-called terrorist cells supposedly embedded in civilian communities," he said.
On Monday, Pimentel said the actual number of refugees was 350,000 and not 318,000. Pimentel said the 350,000 figure was the unofficial estimate of Mindanao-based nongovernment organizations monitoring the movement of evacuees in Zamboanga del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Norte, Maguindanao and North Cotabato, and the wire agency MindaNews. The new figure, he said, was the "cumulative number" of evacuees since the military offensive started in February this year at the Buliok complex in the Liguasan marsh.
"MindaNews, quoting sources in Mindanao, reported it. Even Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman confirmed that 318,000 people have been displaced by the Mindanao war. So that's no longer in question," Pimentel said. On Sunday, Tiglao refuted Pimentel's figures, saying the senator may have confused them with the total number of civilians who had been in and out of evacuation centers since the start of the year. But Pimentel, a Mindanaoan, said it was Tiglao who had committed a mistake.
Source: Philippines Daily Inquirer, 28 May 2003
DEATH TOLL IN LANAO REFUGEE CENTERS HITS 54. Sixteen more evacuees, mostly children, have died of various diseases contracted in different relief sites set up for residents affected by clashes between the military and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.
Rev. Bert Layson, a parish priest spearheading the relief work for the evacuees, said yesterday the latest fatalities succumbed to pneumonia, dysentery or severe malnutrition, bringing the death toll to 54 since March. Heavy rains last week flooded more than a dozen relief sites here and in nearby Pagalungan, Maguindanao.
Since March, local officials, led by Pikit Mayor Farida Malingco, non-government organizations and the military facilitated the return of some 2,000 evacuees to their homes but there are still around 4,000 evacuees who cannot go home because of MILF attacks.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said thousands of the evacuees from the Lanao provinces fled to government evacuation centers after fleeing their villages due to clashes in Maigo, Lanao del Norte on April 24. Soliman reported that about 4,096 families, or 17,663 individuals, are now in the evacuation sites and are continually provided with food, clothing and other relief items. She said most of the refugees came from clusters of villages from at least 13 towns of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.
Source: Philippine Star, 26 May 2003
MILF WELCOMES BUSH OFFER BUT… Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels on Tuesday welcomed US President George W. Bush's offer of financial and political assistance to end their decades-old insurgency, but said they had no choice but to fight a continuing military offensive.
"The MILF always welcomes all development assistance," spokesperson Eid Kabalu said. "If they can convert our roads into gold, why not?" Kabalu said the MILF agreed with Bush about renouncing the use of terror and force, saying: "We are not engaged in terrorist activities, we are only defending ourselves in the face of the onslaught against us."
He said the MILF had pursued peace with the government and has come up with several agreements, but that the process was derailed by a major military offensive in February that drove the rebels from a key camp in the Buliok complex. Kabalu said increased US military assistance to the Armed Forces, one of the pledges Bush made in his meeting with President Macapagal-Arroyo in the Oval Office, would make little difference on the ground.
Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chair for political affairs, said in Davao City Tuesday that despite the renewed hostilities, the MILF remained committed to a peaceful political solution of the Mindanao problem. Jaafar also expressed optimism that his group would not be included in the list of terrorist organizations because until now the government had not totally severed ties with the MILF.
In another interview, Kabalu warned the United States against helping the AFP in actual combat against the rebels. He said the MILF would not harm US troops if they did not actively help in the government's fight against the MILF.
Source: Philippines Daily Inquirer, 21 May 2003
VIGILANTE GROUPS VS MILF EMERGING. In the aftermath of skirmishes between government forces and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas, several vigilante groups and shadowy paramilitary organizations have emerged to offer their services in defending their towns and cities against retaliatory attacks from the rebels.
Rodrigo Duterte, the tough-talking mayor of Davao City, has also warned civil war may result if strong measures are not taken to contain the wave of retaliatory attacks of the MILF. Maigo, Lanao del Norte Mayor Eduardo Mansueto disclosed some members of a group calling themselves "Sheperds" from Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur came and volunteered their services as town defenders. This is aside from another group which came from Ozamis City, the mayor said.
During a meeting with the military, most of the local officials in Lanao del Norte, particularly in the coastal towns, insisted they should be allowed to arm themselves to defend their towns against MILF rebels. Reports said more civilians have volunteered to join vigilante groups, some of them headed by amulet-wearing leaders who claimed to possess power to fend off bullets with a talisman, reminiscent of the "Ilaga," a known paramilitary group in the 1970s. Maj. Gen. Cristolito Balaoing of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division said armed civilians pose legal problems and may result in abuses.
Source: Philippine Star, 21 May 2003
AFP: NO ALL-OUT WAR BUT WE’RE READY FOR MILF ATTACK. The military is ready for a renewed war against Muslim separatist guerrillas if the rebels do not comply with a June 1 ultimatum to cease attacking civilians.
"What we plan is not all-out war. We do not want to set Mindanao on fire. We will be punitive and selective in our actions against these kind of incidents," said military vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia.
President Arroyo gave the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) until June 1 to cease attacking civilians and disavow links with foreign and local terrorist groups or they will be branded as terrorists themselves, effectively crippling chances for further peace talks. The President issued her ultimatum on Tuesday, after a series of raids and bombings since March rocked Mindanao and claimed nearly a hundred lives. These attacks were blamed on the MILF.
Meanwhile, government troops stormed and captured a defensive lair of the MILF in Munai town, Lanao del Norte as the military stepped up its campaign against the rebels, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Southern Command (Southcom) chief Maj. Gen. Roy Kyamko said.
Source: Philippine Star, 16 May 2003
MACAPAGAL SETS CONDITIONS, JUNE 1 DEADLINE FOR MILF. The Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has until June 1 to comply with certain conditions under pain of being tagged a terrorist organization, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's spokesman said Tuesday.
After the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security took up the MILF issue Monday evening, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye announced the MILF was obliged to:
The President said that while the MILF had two weeks to comply with these conditions, it would continue to face the full might of the military and police. The President also said the government was "holding this decision in abeyance ... until after the forthcoming OIC conference of foreign ministers to be held toward the end of this month." She was referring to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), whose Committee of the Eight has been helping the Philippine government resolve the so-called Mindanao problem.
Malaysian Ambassador Mohamed Taufik, a member of the Committee of the Eight, said during the centenary commemoration that his government would respect the Philippine government's decision on whether the MILF should be declared a terrorist group. The ambassador also called on the MILF to consider its future actions, noting that the rebels had admitted responsibility for, among others, a May 4 attack in the town of Siocon in Zamboanga del Norte province that left 22 people dead. "Any action against civilians is clearly an act of terrorism," he said.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu countered that the government ultimatum was "not necessary" and accused the military of using the Muslim rebel group as an "escape tactic" to divert public attention from the issue that some officers of the Armed Forces allegedly connived with the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group. Kabalu referred to recent revelations by former Abu Sayyaf hostage American Gracia Burnham that a military officer had sought to split the ransom money with the extremists in exchange for their escape from government forces. Armed Forces officials have since denied this.
Source: Philippines Daily Inquirer, 15 May 2003
DND EYES TERROR TAG ON MILF. The Department of National Defense (DND) pushed yesterday for the inclusion of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the United States terror list following the attacks in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte and in Koronadal City, South Cotabato last Saturday.
The government, however, has not yet decided if it will declare the MILF as a terrorist organization, diplomatic sources said yesterday. Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said the MILF’s continued terrorist activities showed its leaders were not sincere in negotiating peace with the government. Reyes said the MILF deserves to be included in the US list of terrorist organizations, lumped together with the Communist Party of the Philippines, its armed wing the New People’s Army, and the Abu Sayyaf Islamist group. The MILF has been observed to connive with the Abu Sayyaf in past bomb attacks, Reyes said. Reyes’ calls for the MILF to be included in the US terror list came in the wake of the release of artists’ sketches by the Philippine National Police (PNP) of two suspected bombers in Koronadal that left at least nine people dead last Saturday.
According to Armed Forces vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, authorities were able to recover fragments of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank at the scene, which could have been used in the explosion. Garcia refused to directly link the MILF or the Abu Sayyaf to the Koronadal blast.
On the other hand, some Mindanao congressmen, as well as representatives from different sectors of society, are reportedly holding President Arroyo back from declaring the MILF as a terrorist organization. The Philippines will not bring the matter to the attention of the entire Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which has 56 member countries. The government may instead have bilateral consultations with three countries that are members of the OIC’s Committee of the Eight and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Source: Philippine Star, 12 May 2003
MILF Press Release on Siocon Attack and P50 Million Bounty.
For long, the Arroyo dispensation has been trying to pin down the MILF in the battle for public opinion and abandon the peace talks without blame. The attack on Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte last Sunday, May 4, where reports say eight civilians were killed, provided the opening.
On the basis of command responsibility, the MILF Central Committee assumes responsibility for the tragic death of these civilians in Siocon because we initiated the attack, and for which reasons, we hereby offer our sincerest apology to the families and relatives of the fallen civilians. But let it be known that we did not order the targeting of these civilians; in fact, when our forces have already overrun the headquarters of the 44th Infantry Battalion, we wanted them to withdraw immediately. But there was a failure of communication; they stayed until high noon, thus allowing government reinforcements to arrive. Most if not all of the civilian casualties were not killed deliberately, but they were caught in the crossfire in the ensuing fierce fighting.
Yes, there is no place for vengeance in jihad or revolutionary struggle. But against the backdrop of a recent grim past where thousands upon thousands of Moros including children, women and the aged were massacred by government forces, expect indiscretions or excesses, much to our detestation, to take place once in a while. What happened to the 1,000 Moros killed in Malisbong, Palembang, Sultan Kudarat in 1974, to the 600 in Patikul, Sulu in 1977, to the 2,000 in Pata Island in Sulu in 1981, and many more? Where are their perpetrators?
The Arroyo dispensation has offered a P5-million bounty each on MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim, his three deputies, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, Ghazali Jaafar, and Abdulazis Mimbantas, and MILF spokesman, Eid Kabalu. The rest of the money will go for the capture, dead or alive, of the leaders of the Siocon’s attackers.
Actually, this is not the first time a bounty is offered for our heads. The Marcos regime put reward money in 1973 – 1977 for leaders of the MNLF including Murad, Jaafar, and the undersigned, and the Estrada administration offered P5 million for Salamat, P4 million for Murad, and P1 million each for Jaafar and Kabalu.
What does this offer of bounty mean? In plain words, this is pure and simple “bribery” and an admission of poor intelligence on the part of the government.
As far as we are concerned, this offer of bounty has no effect. We know that in a jihad or revolutionary struggle, we expect everything to happen. Death or capture is an ordinary part of the whole struggle; nothing is too dear to offer for its sake.
Besides, as in the past, the bounty money will not be given to informants but will go to the pockets of the generals and their patrons. It is a waste of government funds.
Source: Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Central Committee, Press Release, 8 May 2003
GOVERNMENT ABORTS PEACE TALKS WITH MILF. President Arroyo has called off talks in Malaysia to resolve the decades-old Muslim separatist rebellion in Mindanao, giving the military the license to go after Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas.
Mrs. Arroyo aborted yesterday the May 9-11 Kuala Lumpur meeting which was to pave the way for talks with the MILF after recent attacks that left 83 people dead and hundreds wounded since March. Government negotiators led by Secretary Jesus Dureza, presidential assistant for Mindanao, would "inform the Malaysian government of our wish to postpone the exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur until we can establish more auspicious circumstances to move the peace process forward," she added.
The President said her decision is to "deploy all the lawful instruments of the State to end this conflict and bring peace to the homes of our people." The government on Monday offered a P50-million reward for information leading to the arrest of MILF chairman Hashim Salamat and four other rebel leaders, a day after the separatist guerrillas raided Siocon leaving 34 people dead and scores of other villagers wounded and taken hostage last Sunday.
The military said yesterday the remaining eight captives were successfully rescued, bringing the total of rescued hostages to 125. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu insisted the Siocon raid was "a continuation of our defensive posture in the face of the ongoing offensive by the military."
Source: Philippine Star, 7 May 2003