MPC August 12 Statement on current Mindanao conflict

Media Statement
12 August 2012

The Mindanao Peoples Caucus calls on all peace loving peoples of Mindanao and the entire country to close ranks and unite behind the earnest efforts of the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to put a final closure to the armed conflict in Mindanao by signing a peace agreement at the soonest possible time.

MPC believes that the current attacks in the municipalities of Datu Unsay, Guindulungan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) are being used as a proxy war by politicians and powers that be in Mindanao who feel threatened by an incipient peace agreement between the Philippine government and the MILF.

The developing scenario is reminiscent of MOA-AD in 2008 where provocation and harassments were launched by armed groups to cause chaos, confusion and hysteria among the people.

From the reports of Bantay Ceasefire, the sporadic attacks by the BIFF have already affected seven towns in Maguindanao and one barangay in Pikit, North Cotabato, displacing around 7,000 families.

While BIFF may have grievances, MPC believes that there are influential politicians riding on in their issues in order to create a scenario that will put to serious question the viability of signing a peace agreement with the MILF. This is an old recycled tactic that is being used every time there is a clear breakthrough in the negotiations.

MPC is also deeply concerned over messages circulating via mobile phones, Facebook and other social media networks on rumors and false information, causing public alarm and panic in the conflict-affected areas.

We urge fellow peace advocates and media to help verify and validate information so that we will not become willing victims of war propaganda.

MPC calls to mind its 16 April 2011 meeting with Ustadz Amiril Umra Kato, leader of the BIFF, who said that he will leave it to the MILF to negotiate with government. His group does not need to negotiate. The peace panels can continue the talks “at kung maganda ang resulta, automatic, agree na kami”. But, “to see is to believe, huwag agad maniwala sa mga salita nila. Hindi na kami madala sa deception ng gobyerno, the MOA-AD is the best proof of such deception.”

Given the positive developments in the peace talks, with the panels already at the homestretch of the negotiations, we challenge the leadership of BIFF to maintain its “wait and see” attitude and not to make further moves that can only derail the negotiations and put civilians in precarious and uncertain conditions in the evacuation centers.

We call upon Moro civil society to initiate intra dialogues among the Moro political elites who could have valid concerns and fears of an incipient political settlement with the MILF.
It is time to unmask the interests and handiwork of those interest groups who clearly benefit from the status quo that the peace negotiation seeks to change. As a self-styled traditional Moro politician aptly said “pag magka pirmahan na ng peace agreement, saan na kami pupulutin?” Indeed, selfish as it may be, the current breed of traditional politicians stands to lose if the status quo will be changed. Thus some of them have already started moving – just as many of them did in 2008 in the run-off towards the signing of the MOA-AD.

We call on Secretary Jesse Robredo and OIC ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman to ensure that the Local Chief Executives, who have recently taken their oath as member of the President’s Liberal Party, will support President Aquino in his desire to resolve the armed conflict in Mindanao and that their actions on the ground are consistent with the national policy.

MPC also recommends an independent investigation over the ambush incident which happened inside the premises of the Mindanao State University main campus in Marawi City. Again, let us not simply lump this incident with the BIFF attacks as this is clearly a distinct and separate case and hopefully isolated as it happened in an academic community.

MPC calls upon friends, allies and supporters of the GPH-MILF Peace Talks to closely guard and protect the gains of the peace process. Let us work hand in hand in order to overcome whatever move that will derail the negotiations. This is a critical moment in our long journey to peace. Let us unite and contribute our time, energies, resources, talents and creative ideas in order to bring about a peace agreement.

When the peace talks resumed in 2009 after the post MOA-AD debacle, all the efforts and interventions of the peace panels and peace advocates were designed to prevent a repeat of the MOA-AD tragedy.

Let us never allow the MOA-AD experience to repeat itself. (30)

Contact:
Jun Aparece
Media Officer
Mobile: 0920-276-2676
Email: junaparece@mpc.org.ph

From: Maryann Arnado <mary_arnado@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, Aug 12, 2012 at 6:35 PM
Subject: Fw: MPC August 12 Statement
To: kiloskapayapaan@googlegroups.com, mindanao1081@yahoogroups.com
Cc: weact1325@yahoogroups.com

ARMM regional aseembly to probe on BIFM attacks

COTABATO CITY, Philippines– The 27-member Regional Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will conduct an inquiry on last week’s attacks by bandits in Maguindanao and look into its long-term implications to the Southern peace process and the ARMM’s reform agenda.
The central leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front already asked the national government to flex its muscles and neutralize the BIFM, led by radical jihadists booted out from the MILF due to abuses and insubordination.
Members of the ARMM’s law-making body, dubbed as the “little Congress” of the region, announced here Tuesday that they are also to help determine possible peaceful measures that can stave off any repeat of the BIFM’s violent attacks.
Peace activists, some of them involved in various foreign-assisted projects, said concerned agencies and foreign donors should focus on immediate interventions meant to rebuild the communities affected by the conflict, particularly those that dwell in the mountains at the western side of the conflict-stricken Datu Saudi, Datu Unsay Shariff Aguak and Guindulungan towns.
Major Gen. Rey Ardo, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said there is an urgent need for the construction of farm-to-market roads connecting the affected hinterland communities to trading centers of the five municipalities the BIFM attacked last week.
Ardo said the BIFM used the area’s underdevelopment and poverty to obscure its setting up of enclaves there and run a shadow government that imposed a Taliban-style justice system.
Aveen Acuña-Gulo, manager of the foreign-supported Indigenous People’s Development Project, said projects meant to empower the displaced natives in the former BIFM strongholds have to directly involve the local communities.
“These projects must be culture-sensitive and must not dislodge the natives due to what we call `development aggression’ which causes more troubles in the communities,” said Gulo, whose office is jointly bankrolled by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung of Germany.
Acting Governor Mujiv Hataman said the ARMM’s regional peace and order council was elated with the military’sreopening of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos City Highway BIFM bandits occupied for four days last week.
The ARMM governor also commended the 1st Mechanized Brigade under Army Col. Mayoralgo de la Cruz, and the Army’s 601st Brigade, led by Col. Edmundo Pangilinan, for the liberation of the BIFM’s two major hilltop enclaves on mountains overlooking the five towns the group repeatedly harassed from August 5 to 11.
Hataman said it was also vital to the greater interest of the local public that the BIFM gave up the camps so that sections of the highway the rebels occupied will again be safe.

from:

John Felix Miciano Unson

journjohn@gmail.com

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                               MILF sees success of current round of peace talks

Home Updated August 14, 2012 02:01 PM 0 comment to this post
COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front expressed confidence that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will be converted into an entirely new autonomous political entity, or NAPE under  expected forthcoming agreement  between the government and MILF peace panels.
Ghadzali Jaafar, the MILF vice chairman for political affairs, said the 14-year peace talks with the national government have been progressing smoothly, particularly with the efforts of both sides to iron out the remaining wealth-and-power sharing topics of the negotiations.
“...I cannot reveal yet bigger details on that because there are communication protocols binding both sides. Surely, the media will know of it sooner or later,” Jaafar told Catholic radio dxMS in a phone interview Tuesday.
The wealth-and-power sharing topics in the GPH-MILF talks are by far the most contentious and negotiators are trying to strike a final peace deal before next year’s synchronized ARMM, local and senatorial elections.
The GPH and MILF panels even agreed, during last week's 30th exploratory talks in Malaysia, to create technical working groups to study the wealth-and-power sharing issues being discussed by both sides, to easily reach a consensus on the agenda.
The government’s chief negotiator, Marvic Leonen, told reporters earlier that he is optimistic they would craft a final peace deal with the MILF before the 20113 polls.
Leonen, however, said it is unlikely for the ARMM’s regional polls next year to be postponed anew in case the GPH and MILF fail to reach a final accord before the conduct of the electoral exercise.
Local peace advocacy outfits are apprehensive an election in the ARMM next year may “hold hostage” any transition in the regional leadership, and the subsequent conversion of the present autonomous regional government into a NAPE.
Elected ARMM officials, under the region’s charter, Republic Act 9054, are mandated to hold office for three years and may not be unseated during their tenure to allow the new political body to take over the regional leadership.
Another issue bothering local officials and peace activists is the implication of any crafting of a final government-MILF peace pact sooner than Malacañang, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Moro National Liberation Front can wrap up their tripartite review of the September 2, 1996 final GPH-MNLF truce.
The parties involved in the three-way effort to enhance the GHP-MNLF peace pact, which started in 2007, already agreed on more than 40 “consensus points” essential to improving the weak provisions of the agreement and in addressing misunderstandings on the implementation of some of its sensitive provisions.
The OIC, a pan-Islamic block of more than 50 Muslim states including wealthy oil-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa, helped broker the GPH-MNLF final peace agreement.
The OIC is involved only as an “observer” in the on-going talks between the government and the Aquino administration.
The chairman of the largest of three groups in the MNLF, Cotabato City Vice-Mayor Muslimin Sema, said they are open to the idea of a dialogue with the MILF and representatives from Malacañang about the government's separate overtures with the two Moro fronts.
“This we can willingly do, without hesitation, because we’re not at war with the MILF. The MILF and the MNLF have one objective, that of pushing forward and upholding the good of the Bangsamoro people,” Sema said.
Sema said the 40 “consensus points” reached by the OIC, the MNLF, and the national government are also centered on governance, wealth-and-power sharing, natural resources, education, sharia, and regional security, which the government and MILF panels have also been trying to “package” into a peace agreement.
The acting governor of ARMM, Mujiv Hataman, said he and all his constituent-caretakers of the region support the peace effots.
“We in the ARMM government will never be stumbling blocks to the attainment of lasting peace and sustainable development in Mindanao’s Muslim communities, under whatever governing mechanism acceptable to the two fronts and all sectors in the present autonomous region. We are here in the ARMM to help introduce reforms, in fact,” Hataman said.
Hataman represents the ARMM government in the GPH-MILF talks. - John Unson

BIFM attacks in Maguindanao recounted

 

NATION PAGE, philSTAR (www.philstar.com) August 13, 2012 05:21 PM 0 comment to this post
COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement bandits gunned down two security guards and an Army intelligence agent in separate attacks the past two days in two more Maguindanao towns that also left five others wounded.
Datu Genuine Kamaong, acting mayor of Maguindanao’s Datu Piang town, said the bandits first surrounded Barangay Magaslong, not far from their municipal center, and opened fire with rifles and grenades.
The attack forced hundreds of ethnic Maguindanaon families to evacuate to safer areas for fear of their lives.
Kamaong said a 40-year-old civilian named Umbak Sapan was wounded in the shooting, which triggered a firefight between the bandits and combined soldiers and militiamen.
The incident caused the closure of the only highway linking Datu Piang, formerly named Dulawan, a centuries-old Moro settlement that became a chartered municipality before World War II, to major thoroughfares linking the area to Cotabato City and nearby provinces in Administrative Region 12.
“We were forced to evacuate the wounded civilian to Midsayap, North Cotabato via a river because the highway was closed so we (couldn't) bring the victim to a hospital by means of an overland travel,” Kamaong said.
The attack came after suspected BIFM members wearing black ski masks raided a safe house also in Barangay Magaslong of an Army intelligence team under the 45th Infantry Battalion.
Combatants of the 45th IB led efforts to drive away hundreds of bandits that raided and plundered villages in Maguindanao’s adjoining Shariff Aguak, Datu Unsay, Datu Saudi, Datu Hofer and Guindulungan towns in a spate of attacks that began August 5 and waned only after five days.
The bandits, coming from various directions, barged into the agents’ hideout and opened fire, killing Pfc. Roger Warde on the spot and wounding his companion, Cpl. Edison Medina.
Medina and other Army agents inside the safe house escaped by jumping out through open windows after sensing that they were outnumbered.
The attacks in Datu Piang was followed by the BIFM’s ambush in Barangay Alip in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao of a group of security guards escorting a convoy of trailer trucks carrying vans filled with Cavendish bananas for export to the Middle East and China.
The ambushers, positioned at one side of the highway, opened fire at the vehicle carrying the security guards, killing two of them instantly and wounding three others.
The fatalities, Deodemar Barbosa and Moises Catalan, who were employees of the Columbia Security Agency, which secures the Alip River Development Export Corp. in Datu Paglas.
The chief of the private security group guarding the banana plantation, Rogelio Ladio, and three farm workers, Ronald Benzon, Allan Tanalgo and Carlos Chavez, were wounded in the attack.
The area where the BIFM pulled off the ambush is not far from Buluan, the hometown of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo issued last week a “show cause order” to the mayors of the five Maguindanao towns the BIFM attacked last week, asking them to explain why they should not be charged with dereliction of duties owing to reports they were out of their offices during the rebel incursions. - John Unson

from: John Felix Miciano Unson journjohn@gmail.com

Statement of ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman On circulating info on social media
that war has allegedly broken out in Mindanao

There is no truth to the information circulating on Twitter, Facebook and
social media which allege that war has allegedly broken out in Mindanao.
Please refrain from sharing and posting similar information so as not to
cause undue panic.
While it is true that there were attacks on military installations by the
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom
Movement (BIFF-BIFM), a group led by breakaway MILF commander Ustadz Ameril
Umra Kato, most of these have already been contained by our armed forces and
they shall continue to protect and ensure the safety of our people. At the
same time, last night's attack to a contingent of the military undergoing
mobile patrol in Mindanao State University in Marawi City is a handiwork of
lawless elements. Security and law enforcement operations are currently
ongoing.
We also support all efforts to curb the ongoing drug syndicate inside the
MSU Campus. The Regional Government will definitely flex its muscles to
clamp down these people who uses the academic institution as a haven of
their illegal business while destroying lives of our people.
Again, I'd like to appeal to everyone to please double check facts before
posting on social media. Let us not cause undue panic which may hamper
government operations. Let us be part of the solution and not cause further
trouble. Rest assured that we in the ARMM are doing whatever we can to
ensure the welfare and security of our people. Inshallah! #
-----
Please help disseminate. Salam!

from: Norkhalila Mae B. Mambuay-Campong khalmambuay214@gmail.com

'BIFM not behind university attack in Marawi'
NATION PAGE, philSTAR (www.philstar.com) August 09, 2012 04:09 PM 0 comment to this post
COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Authorities on Thursday said the Wednesday night ambush in Marawi City which left three dead and 10 others was unrelated to the continuing strife in certain towns in Maguindanao.
Soldiers have been fighting since Monday dawn marauding bandits belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement.
Radio reports from Marawi City said 13 were wounded in the ambush, who are now confined in different hospitals.
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police, in an emailed statement, said the incident is now being investigated and that leaders in the area are now helping identify the attackers.
Col. Daniel Lucero, commander of the Army-led Task Force Ranao in Lanao del Sur and Marawi City, said the soldiers were on their way to the MSU campus for a regular security tour when gunmen, positioned at one side of the road, opened fire with assault rifles.
“Three of our men were killed while 10 others were wounded,” Lucero said.
Lucero said they are convinced that a group affected by their continuing anti-crime operations is behind the ambush.
Lucero said the military was present inside the MSU campus to protect dozens of students who were forced by owners of boarding houses in the campus to register using fictitious names in different Lanao del Sur towns during the July 9-18 registration of voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Lucero said they are also considering the possibility that illegal loggers were behind the attack as Army units in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur seized about 40 truckloads of logs and flitches, called “tablon” in the vernacular, from January to May this year in compliance with a directive from ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.
The seized forest products were smuggled from the rainforests and supposedly protected watersheds around Lake Lanao, whose downstream flow propel hydro-electric plants that supply three-fourths of Mindanao’s power requirements.
Lucero said the ambush incident was preceded by the murders in Marawi City of two soldiers in two recent separate attacks.
“The latest[incident] happened last July, where a soldier was gunned down cold-bloodedly,” Lucero said.
ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said officials of the regional and local government departments are now helping investigate the incident.
Hataman said he is certain the incident in unrelated to the on-going hostilities in Maguindanao.
“Let’s give investigators enough time to identify the ambushers and file criminal charges against them,” Hataman said.
The director of the ARMM police, Chief Supt. Mario Avenido, said he has directed the Marawi City police to investigate the ambush that triggered panic in the surroundings of MSU.
Avenido said more policemen have been deployed around the MSU campus to prevent a repeat of the attack. - John Unson

From: John Felix Miciano Unson journjohn@gmail.com

Latest Incident in Pikit

A Test to the strong Faith of the Moro on the Observance of the Holy Month of Ramadan

Last August 6, 2012 a grenade explosion took place at the CAFGU-AFP detachment along the National Highway of Barangay Batulawan Pikit, North Cotabato with five casualties (four military men and civilian women residing near the blast site). These atrocities brought about by the BIFFM Headed by Ustadz Umbra Kato a breakaway group from the MILF.These atrocities brought about by the BIFFM Headed by Ustadz Umbra Kato a breakaway group from the MILF. With main concentration of conflict in the second District of Maguindanao in the municipalities of Datu Saudi, Sharif Aguak and nearby municipalities to include Municipalities of Pikit and Midsayap of Cotabato. These situations resulted to massive displacement and great difficulty on the lives of the fasting residents who were affected by the conflict.

August 07, 2012. Pikit Cotabato counted head of families left their homes on 12:29 midnight mostly residents of Barangay Dalingawin Pikit Cotabato with roughly 165 head of families vacated their houses and move to Barangay Batulawan,Pikit, North Cotabato  particularly at the Mindanao Islamic Polytechnic College campus , the residence of Barangay Chairman Datu Faisal Ayunan and  Kagawad Abdila Kumpa  due to their fear that rumors circulated last night that their village will be attack by the BIFM forces.

Up to the present numbers of evacuees are more increasing with the tension of upcoming fire fight between the AFP and the Freedom Fighters.


Reported by:
Tiyakap Kawagib Volunteer from PIKIT