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Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Palace to Moro group: 'Deal with Malik'
By Bong Garcia
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza has called on the leadership of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to deal with the actions perpetrated by Commander Ustadz Habier Malik.
"Unless decisively addressed by the MNLF leadership, this latest incident will pose as an additional challenge in our peace engagement with the MNLF with whom we signed a peace agreement in 1996," Dureza said.
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"We take positive note of the sobriety shown by most MNLF leaders and members who disagreed with Malik's latest actions," he added.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on Tuesday said thousands of government forces will continue hunting down renegade MNLF fighters under Malik.
Esperon even offered a P1 million bounty for the capture of Malik.
Brigadier General Ruperto Pabustan, commander of the military’s Special Operations Task Group based in the province, said Esperon relayed the offer through Lieutenant General Eugenio Cedo, commander of the military’s Western Mindanao Command.
The headquarters of Pabustan’s unit was among those which were attacked by Malik’s men last Saturday. Elite forces of the unit retaliated by capturing a camp of Malik’s group in the town the following day.
Pabustan however could not say where Esperon would be getting the money. He said the bounty will be given to civilians who can provide information on the whereabouts of Malik and not to members of the pursuing government forces.
Esperon said Malik’s group has joined forces with the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf whose leaders and members are being pursued by the military since August last year.
He said the MNLF and the Abu Sayyaf even attacked an Army detachment in a remote area in Parang town in Sulu earlier Tuesday which resulted in undetermined number of casualties on the side of the MNLF.
Esperon clarified that the military is only going after Malik and not the entire organization of the MNLF, which has signed a peace accord with the government in September 1996.
He also said the military cannot afford to let Malik go scot-free for the shelling of the Panamao town hall - where a child died – on two military installations.
OIC secretary general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has called on the Armed Forces and the MNLF to disengage their forces, to abide by the provisions of a standing peace agreement in the letter and spirit and to resume negotiations in good faith.
Ihsanoglu said he will get in touch with the two parties “to secure their agreement for the above-mentioned points and to consult with them about the constitution of a small military monitoring mission to observe the strict implementation of the suspension of military operations."
Esperon said government forces have been trying to establish the rule of law in Sulu since the MNLF signed a peace accord with the government in September 1996. “We cannot allow someone who is a party to the peace agreement to sow violence,” he said.
He commended Malik’s fellow MNLF members for not “taking this (operations against the renegade MNLF commander) against the Armed Forces of the Philippines and for cooperating (with government).”
In fact, Esperon said MNLF commanders and their men who are not supporting Malik have transferred to a resettlement area in Lasang village in Parang town “to avoid the fighting and also to help us against the Abu Sayyaf.”
He said the military establishment is “gathering as much information as we could for the capture of Malik but we that last night some of his troops tried to flee from Jolo through the southern part of Jolo.”
Esperon refused to give details of the planned escape.
"What's going on now is a punitive action by the government on Malik and his men who committed criminal acts," Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said.
"The action is not against the MNLF. We have a peace accord with them and that stays," Seguis said.
The Philippine Government will provide the OIC with details of how the clashes started, he said.
Malik's group launched mortar attacks that hit two marine camps and houses near Jolo's Panamao's townhall late Friday to Saturday, killing two marines and a child, the military said.
Fearing more attacks from Malik, a spiritual leader with 300-500 armed followers, the military deployed up to 3,000 troops and marines, backed by helicopter gunships, to seize Malik's Panamao camp over the weekend but failed to capture him, military spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said.
Troops captured another MNLF encampment in nearby Talipao town Sunday, he said, then caught up with a small pocket of Malik's men Monday in a Panamao village, setting off a brief clash that killed one rebel, Bacarro said, adding a total of nine guerrillas have been killed.
Dureza urged the military, as it undertakes punitive action against Malik and his followers, to calibrate its actions and put a quick end to its efforts, taking into account the plight of the innocent civilians who are adversely affected during conflict situations.
Malik has been suspected of providing sanctuary to al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf guerrillas and Indonesian terror suspects who have been on the run from a massive US-backed offensive that started in August, Esperon said.
It was not clear why Malik staged the attacks, but news reports quoted him as saying he wanted to avenge an incursion into an MNLF stronghold by troops pursuing Abu Sayyaf guerrillas last week.
It was not immediately possible to contact Malik and his supporters for comment, because communications in Jolo are poor.
An estimated of 8,000 families have fled their homes for fear of being caught in the cross fire as offensive against Malik's group continues in Sulu.
Malik has gained national attention last February when he and his group held hostage Marine Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino and 19 other military, including a defense official for two days in Camp Jabal Uhud, and have demanded more benefits under the September 2, 1996, peace accord signed by the MNLF and the government.
Dureza said the government will endeavor to jointly strengthen the mechanism that will foster closer coordination between the MNLF and the military in the joint effort against terrorism and lawlessness, especially in Sulu.
Meanwhile, Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) information officer Major Eugenio Batara said the fresh fighting ensued around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Barangay of Bitan-ag, Panamao town.
Batara said the troops from the Army's 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion were conducting combat and clearing patrol when they chanced upon a group of MNLF breakaway group members in the area.
He said the breakaway group numbering to about 20 people fled after several minutes of firefight against the soldiers, who outmaneuvered them.
They were believed to have suffered casualties but were dragged away by their fleeing comrades.
No identities of both the slain and captured MNLF breakaway member was available. An M-16 rifle with attached M-203 grenade launcher was seized by the troops.
Batara said the troops suffered no casualty during the firefight while combat and clearing patrol continues.
The offensive was launched after Malik's group attacked military detachments from last Friday night until Saturday in the towns of Luuk and Talipao.
Two soldiers were killed while eight others were wounded during the attack. Malik's group suffered 12 men killed in the military offensive.
The rebels also shelled with mortars the town hall of Talipao that resulted to the death of a child and injured another one.
Batara said the camps recovered by Wesmincom forces are now being occupied by the Marines and the Army Special Operation Command (Socom) forces.
Security has also been bolstered in Jolo's bustling main town to prevent Malik's group from staging bombings and diversionary attacks, officials said.
US military civic projects, including road and school repairs, near the scene of fighting have been suspended for safety reasons, US military spokesman Maj. John Redfield said.
The MNLF was the largest Muslim separatist group in the southern Philippines until it agreed to accept increased autonomy and signed the peace agreement with the government in September 1996. Many of its members, particularly those under Malik, refused to disarm and maintained strongholds on Jolo and nearby islands. (With reports from VR/JMR/CPB/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (April 18, 2007 issue)
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