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Monday, July 16, 2007
Official warns of offensive v. Moro rebels
MANILA -- National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales threatened Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) with a full-scale offensive if it won't surrender forces involved in the attack on government troops in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan.
This offensive against those responsible for the killing of 14 Marines and the beheading and mutilation of 10 of them would not discriminate between Abu Sayyaf bandits and MILF rebels, said Marine Chief Nelson Allaga.
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The bodies of the slain Marines arrived in Manila on Saturday and were given full military honors led by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. A funeral march followed by a necrological mass for the victims was held at the Marine Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio Sunday morning.
Gonzales aid the military would run after those behind the attack on the Marines to bring them to justice and would launch a military offensive if needed.
"They (MILF officials) must surrender them (killers of 14 Marine soldiers) and take full responsibility," he said.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. has sent a battalion of soldiers to Basilan to prepare for the offensive, said Gonzales, adding they are prepared to send more.
As government troops prepare for a fight, an official of the MILF urged the Philippine military to observe restraint.
Khaled Musa, MILF committee on information deputy chairman, said "collective punishment" would victimize even the innocent.
Allaga, who led Saturday's recognition of 14 slain Marines, said some of his men are already on the field conducting pursuit operations against 300 men responsible for the slays and the beheading.
While the operations are meant to arrest the perpetrators, Allaga did not discount a firefight because the perpetrators are armed.
He said they have established the identities of some of the perpetrators based on the initial list prepared by the police operating in the region.
"As of now, it's the MILF, Abu Sayyaf, and lawless elements in the grouping (who are in the list). They jointly launched the attack in the area, there is MILF, there is Abu Sayyaf, there are lawless elements. All of them are there," he said.
The Marines were looking for abducted Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi in the town of Tipo-Tipo when ambushed. Of the 14 Marines killed, 10 were beheaded and dismembered.
The MILF claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the soldiers entered their territory without coordination. The MILF, however, said their troops were not behind the beheading.
Gonzales said the MILF was well aware of the ongoing rescue operations in its "territory" as local monitoring teams accompanied the soldiers. The monitoring teams are part of the ceasefire monitoring teams composed of both government and MILF representatives.
He said he got this information during a briefing by Marine officials over the weekend. He said concerned groups are now looking into the possibility that this "coordination" was ignored.
"Why resist that way if they do not hide anything," he said, shrugging off possibilities that Bossi was really kept in the area or some Abu Sayyaf bandits might be hiding there.
"We really have to examine the MILF actions," Gonzales said, adding that it would be difficult to ignore the beheading and mutilation suffered by the soldiers. This in some places is already considered a terrorist act.
Presidential adviser on the peace process Jesus Dureza said it is not proper to quickly classify the incident as a terrorist act, although he stressed that it is "barbaric and inhuman."
Dureza said they are still waiting for the reports and results of the investigations on the ground.
A noted anti-crime crusader, meanwhile, had his hair shaved to protest the gruesome killing and mutilation of 10 of 14 Marine soldiers.
At the same time, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (Vacc) chairman Dante Jimenez challenged human rights advocates, militant party-list groups, and even the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to condemn the incident.
"I condole with the families of the slain Marines. They were not just killed but dismembered. This is really outrageous and now I asked the various human rights groups and party-list organizations who made championing the cause of human rights their issues to come out in the open. What is your statement, what can you say about this? What is the stand of the CBCP? I challenge them now to come out in the open," said Jimenez at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig where the elite Marine Corps hold its headquarters. (JMR/VR/AH/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga.
(July 16, 2007 issue)
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Protests, warnings greet anti-terror law