Thank you, Mr. President, for your frankness regarding the issue of terrorism! Your style of telling what is in your heart resonates to us, because that is also our way to deal with people especially like you who is the highest official of the land.
This explains why there is quickness in the re-engagement in and
continuation of the GPH-MILF peace process under your administration.
President
Rodrigo Duterte issued a statement appealing to the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
not to coddle terrorists, otherwise he will be forced to order an attack
on their camps.
This quotation below is part of his statement made at Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao on January 27.
“I am pleading, do not allow the Maute and the other terrorist groups
to seek refuge in your camps, otherwise mapipilitan ako sabihin sa Armed
Forces na pasukin ninyo,” Duterte said in a speech before soldiers in
Maguindanao.”
To many people, the statement
carries something that that should not be said at all to a “partner in
peace”. We don’t buy that since we know well the attitude of the
president.
By the way, since May 2002 the MILF and the
government have been cooperating with each other in “isolating and
interdicting” of kidnap-for-ransom groups and other criminal gangs
operating in or near MILF areas or communities in Mindanao. Terrorism,
without stating, is on top of the list, because there is yet no crime
called “terrorism” in probably in all criminal or penal codes in the
world today.
The cooperation is mainly through the government
and MILF Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), in tandem with the
Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH). So many
success stories are attributed to the AHJAGs and CCCHs; in fact,
kidnapping in Central Mindanao is zero since five years ago, mainly
through their efforts.
In this campaign, the MILF has given
everything possible, subject to provisions of agreements signed with
government. If the Mamasapano incident happened in January 2015, it was
because the Philippine National Police (PNP) grossly violated the terms
of these agreements especially the need for “prior coordination” even if
the targets are high valued. We were attacked under cover of darkness;
we only defended ourselves.
Certainly, in this campaign, we
can only do as much as we can, which is limited, because we are not yet
clothed with legal authority and our resources are scarce.
But
once the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is enacted into law and the
Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) is established, which the MILF
leads, it would entirely be a new kind of ball game. The sorry part of
it, however, is that until now the appointment papers of the
commissioners-nominees to the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) are
not yet released by the government.
By the way, if the MILF
agrees to combat these kidnapping, drug trafficking, and “terrorism”,
the utmost consideration is because they are against the teachings of
Islam. Other considerations are mere secondary.
Terrorism is a menace and is an insult to man’s dignity and rationality. Allah says in the Qur’an:
“… Whosoever kills an innocent human being, it shall be as if he has
killed all mankind, and whosoever saves the life of one, it shall be as
if he had saved the life of all mankind…” (Chapter 5, Verse 32)
The
ISIS is declared by Muslim learned men (ulamas) worldwide as not an
Islamic organization. Abubakar Al-Baghdadi, so-called leader or caliph,
was once a prisoner of the United States in Iraq, but upon the death of
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2009, the successor of Osama bin Laden, Baghdadi
was released by the US for “unclear reasons”.