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Sunday, July 15, 2007
Arroyo vows to hunt down Marines beheaders
MANILA -- The Philippine government will not back out of Malaysian-brokered peace talks with Muslim rebels, the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Saturday, but she vowed to punish those who recently killed 14 Marines.
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The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) admitted its fighters attacked and killed the Marines, who they accused of encroaching into a rebel stronghold near southern Basilan island's Tipo Tipo town on Tuesday.
However, the rebels denied beheading 10 of the 14 marines killed. The MILF said it was investigating who carried out the beheadings amid concern the incident could prolong already-stalled talks between the government and the group and spark new fighting.
"We will not allow those who committed barbaric acts to hide under the negotiating table," President Arroyo said in a statement. "Only principled warriors deserve a seat on it."
"We will run after those who killed our Marines, but we will not run away from the peace talks," she said.
The bodies of the 14 Marines were flown to an Air Force base in Manila, where Arroyo and military chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon saluted each flag-draped coffin brought down by pallbearers from a C-130 plane.
Arroyo offered condolences to relatives, some of whom wept as a Catholic priest prayed and sprinkled holy water on the white coffins, placed side by side on the tarmac. A military band played a funeral hymn.
Military officials suspect hundreds of insurgents belonging to the MILF and the smaller but more brutal Abu Sayyaf opened fire on the convoy of Marines heading back to camp after a futile search for a kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi.
MILF probe team
The MILF in a statement posted on its website, www. luwaran.com, said a three-man team, headed by a senior member of the MILF military General Staff, was tasked to investigate the beheading of 10 Marine soldiers.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu earlier denied that their men were responsible for the mutilation of the Marine soldiers.
He, however, admitted it was the MILF who earlier attacked the Marines in Tipo-tipo that day but said the beheading could have happened after the more than seven hours firefight when the MILF had already left the encounter site.
The MILF probe body will also look into the alleged killing and beheading of an imam in the same village. The MILF claim that the imam identified as Ustadz Matarul Hakim Alkanul was earlier beheaded by the Marine soldiers. This could be the reason why the Marines were also beheaded later.
Imam is an important personality in Islam, because he is the one who leads the Muslims during prayers. The word also signifies “leadership” or leader both in the spiritual and temporal world as in Iran.
A local official said the “gruesome killing of an imam” might have prompted members of the MILF to attack the Marine contingent.
Sayyaf-MILF forces
However, Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) Chief Eugenio Cedo insisted that it was a combined Abu Sayyaf and MILF forces that clashed with the Marine troops last Tuesday in Basilan.
Cedo said Marine troops who were wounded during the clash can attest to this.
Cedo said the MILF forces in Basilan are only about 130 people and “the Abu Sayyaf operating in the same area is only about 10” based on their intelligence information.
He identified the Abu Sayyaf leader in the area as Rugy Indama.
The MILF denied the report, saying it was their forces that fought the Marines who entered their area without prior coordination.
Cedo said there is no need for coordination, saying “the encampment of the MILF in Basilan is not included and recognized by the GRP-MILF terms of agreement.”
A military and two dump trucks were burned during the gun battle.
More troops
A Marine battalion was deployed Friday from nearby Jolo Island to Basilan, about 850 kilometers (530 miles) south of Manila, to bolster the military presence there.
Reacting to the massive deployment of government forces, the MILF declared its readiness to defend itself in Basilan in the face of impending major offensive by government forces.
Khaled Musa, MILF committee on information vice chairman, said the massing of troops by the government is another display of blatant disregard of the existing ceasefire between the MILF and the government.
He accused the government of deliberately luring the MILF into the firefight last Tuesday by committing the following violations of the truce:
1. The Philippine Marines through the government coordinating committee on cessation of hostilities (CCCH) never coordinated with the MILF CCCH;
2. "Massing or deployment of troops not part of normal movement," if without prior coordination, is a violation of the ceasefire;
3. Entering “known” MILF bailiwick is another violation; and
4. According to Representative Wahab Akbar, Mayor Hajarun Jamiri and the town police chief of Al-barka had advised the Marine officers against entering Al-barka, which is an MILF controlled area under the ceasefire, but the Marines completely ignored the advice or warning.
Musa said Tuesday's fighting was the consequence of this utter disregard of the ceasefire agreement by the Philippine Marines.
"Who fired first is immaterial, because there were three prior infractions of the ceasefire by the Philippine Marines, triggering the firefight that led to the killing of the Marines," Musa said.
The killings shattered years of relative calm on predominantly Muslim Basilan Island, which has been touted by the Philippines and the United States as a success story in US-backed military campaigns to wipe out the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf. (Bong Garcia, JMR, Ben Tesiorna of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (July 15, 2007 issue)
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