Erap: BangsaMoro substate a mistake

Former President Joseph Estrada yesterday said that entertaining the idea of a Bangsamoro sub-state, if not handled with caution, may borderline on treason.

“Peace must be attained but not at the cost of our territorial integrity,” Estrada said.

Estrada clarified that he never gave the Aquino adminis-tration any advice on this issue, stressing that he is not in the habit of giving unsolicited advice but was only answering questions from the media regarding his stand on this issue as a former president who achieved peace in Mindanao by wiping out the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Reports describe the substate as one that will exercise powers over its political and economic affairs and enforce security within the Bangsamoro territory. While it will remain under the Republic of the Philippines, it would have “asymmetrical relations’’ with the national government, similar to Hong Kong’s relations with China and will have the unique position of having its own “responsibility in governing Bangsamoro lands”.

“We must exert all efforts toward peace but we cannot afford to give them (MILF) something that is tantamount to giving them their own government and against the Constitution,” Estrada said. “Whether you call it a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity or a Bangsamoro substate, by whatever name you

call it, the MILF (rebels) are essentially asking for the creation of their own government, which is a non-negotiable. The territorial integrity of our country is a non-negotiable,” Estrada stressed.

Government troops killed a field commander from the country’s main Muslim rebel group, dampening confidence ahead of peace talks next week, the insurgents said Monday.

MILF commander Abdulmajid Abdulham was slain on Saturday when his unit fought off combined military and police forces who were sent to the remote southern farming town of Sibuco to arrest him.

Abdulham was wanted for a string of attacks, including robbery, but the MILF said the military offensive — which occurred while Abdulham and other Muslims were holding morning prayers — was a clear violation of a truce agreement.

“We will file an official complaint with a joint ceasefire monitoring committee,” MILF spokesman Von al Haq told Agence France Presse.

“It will affect the confidence in the talks, but the incident will not be enough to derail the whole process.”

Al Haq said Abdulham was a “field commander” with a following of about 30 fighters.

The MILF has been waging an insurgency in Mindanao, the country’s southern third, since 1978 and the conflict has left about 150,000 people dead through the years.

The group recently announced it had dropped its bid for independence, and said it would settle for the creation of an autonomous “substate” in the south.

MILF leader Murad Ebrahim and President Aquino also pledged to fast track peace talks when they held a secret meeting in Japan early this month.

Those talks are due to resume in Malaysia on Aug. 22.

At the same time, the Aquino government’s military adviser on the peace talks with the MILF yesterday admitted the adverse effects of the conflict between the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) and its breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) to the peace negotiations.

Brig. Gen. Restituto Aguilar, senior military adviser to the government panel talking peace with the MILF, said the MILF leadership should discipline its ranks.

“We are being observed by the whole world, not only the Philippines. This conflict has a tremendous effect on the people observing (the peace process), their trust in the ongoing peace talks, the quality that can be delivered,” said Aguilar.

“On the side of MILF commanders (the problem) is discipline, how could they control their own people… that is where there is problem,” added Aguilar.

Pressed what could be the effect of the conflict on the ongoing negotiations, Aguilar replied “the effect, we still have to find that out…but it could be adverse, of course we don’t see this as a healthy sign…this is the third rido (clan feud) already for the year.”

Aguilar, however, stressed that the government peace negotiating panel is giving the MILF leadership the free hand to discipline their ranks.

‘They have their own rules of engagement, they have rules within the MILF and BIAF and the different units should adhere to those rules of engagement,” said Aguilar.

Aguilar said that in June a rido between the 104th and 105th Base Commands of the MILF erupted in Palembang, Sultan Kudarat, while another between the 108th and 109th BCs in Datu Paglas in Maguindanao also this year.

The latest claimed “rido” which started July 20 has already claimed the lives of more than 20 fighters from the BIAF and BIFF during the week-long skirmishes between the two groups in Datu Piang town, Maguindanao. Official reports, however, showed that only 14 were killed.

“We would like to invoke the agreement signed in 2002 saying that in case that these kind of situations arise, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) will discipline their own troops as well the MILF will discipline its own people,” said Aguilar.

Aguilar explained that the Datu Piang conflict between BIAF’s 106th Base Command, headed by Adzmie Kasim, and BIFF group of Commander Abunawas, prompted by rido or clan war, has already disrupted the lives of thousands of civilians in the municipality.

“We are concerned because they (civilians) are doing their normal lives then disrupted because of rido between families using their organization,” said Aguilar.

However, Aguilar said that skirmishes in Datu Piang town have died down over the weekend after the MILF leadership ordered the 106th Base Command to stop conducting aggressive operations against BIFF, a breakaway faction of the MILF headed by Ameril Umbra Kato.

The MILF leadership also deployed BIAF troops to act as “buffer” force in the conflict area to prevent the two warring groups from engaging.

“The MILF Central Committee was successful in ordering 106th Base Command to cease and desist from operation for the meantime…this is a way to cool down the situation,” said Aguilar.

During the conflict, Aguilar said that AFP troops were deployed to civilian communities to protect the people from being caught in the cross fires, particularly those who were displaced and temporarily sought refuge to evacuation centers.

However, there were reports earlier saying that MILF chieftain Al Haj Murad ordered BIAF troops to engage Kato’s BIFF. Kato himself was reportedly in the front line of the BIFF in Guindulungan town, Maguindanao where the conflict briefly spilled over. –Mario J. Mallari, Daily Tribune