STORM SURGING FOR PEACE IN MINDANAO (Part 1)

Raymund de Silva
March 12, 2015

Credit: http://opinion.inquirer.net/83292/editorial-cartoon-march-13-2015

Presidential blunders and making ways forward difficult…

Serious peace builders and even ordinary citizen cannot appreciate the importance of the President Noy Aquino’s not so new revelation of putting all blame of the Mamasapano fiasco in the former head of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police (SAF/PNP). The timing and the place or occasion where it was done made it one of the worst Presidential blunders during the period when the nation is still mourning on the January 25, 2015 failed Police operation. During this period people, especially the loved ones and relatives of the 44 murdered SAF/PNP are still seeking answers to their questions on what really happened and who really are responsible for the Mamasapano carnage. 

The President made the “all blame” statement to General Getulio Napenas when asked during the Ecumenical Celebration with the Evangelical Christians on March 9, 2015. It was also the day that the Board of Inquiry (BOI) which was created by the President himself to investigate the Mamasapano incident would have submitted its findings to the President and to the public. The BOI has called a press conference on the same day to inform the nation on the postponement and extension of the submission of the finding and the results of the investigations. In the BOI Press Conference, its head Director Benjamin Magalong had mentioned that the President did not make himself available for investigation nor made any statement. Dir. Magalong had also mentioned that General Allan Purisima- the best friend of the President- did not also give the BOIa chance to talk with him about the January 25, 2015 incident.  Added to this is that the MILF/BIAF did not agree to be interviewed by the BOI.

Board of Inquiry Mamasapano Incident Report (download here)

The two abovementioned events are very revealing of the President pre-empting the findings of the BOI. Pressures could have been made to the BOI especially General Magalong- who before the press conference- was named as one of the candidates for the top position of the PNP. 

Everybody has been waiting to know the results of the BOI’s findings. In fact it was the reason used by the leadership of the House of Representatives to the committee which is in charge of the Mamasapano investigation that they have to postpone and wait for the BOI’s results before they resume the house hearings.

Now the BOI has asked  for the postponement of the submission of its findings and the President has already put all the blame to General Napenas. Definitely not so few people would not believe the objectivity and credibility of the BOIs findings. 

There are still other investigating bodies which are doing their jobs to find out the truth e.g. Department of Justice (DOJ), Commission on Human Rights (CHR), etc. It would not be helpful for these bodies to hear from the President  about his escaping responsibility and accountability and his putting the blame to somebody while saving his best friend General Purisima.

What has aggravated this situation of the Presidential revelation is that, it was done on the occasion of ecumenical prayer gathering. This was the occasion initiated by the executive to gather Christian religious leaders in the country except the representative from the Catholic-Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)-which has influenced on 80% of the country’s population. The gathering also excluded a leader of Catholic Charismatic group-El Shadai- whose member is one of the survivors of Mamasapano bloody encounter and had told his stories in El Shadai of what really happened in that fateful day of January 25, 2015. This ecumenical gathering was supposed to be offering of prayer for what is happening to our country not offering praises to the President. This occasion could not be one that best promotes unity amidst confusion after the January 25, 2015 incident not creating situation to further divide the country. This could be the best occasion where one accepts his limitations and would be humbled enough to accept responsibility and accountability so that other could help in correcting such human weaknesses. It is worst because, in less than two months of the successful visit of Pope Francis in the country, it seems that his message of love and compassion and peace and hope have been forgotten by no less than the President and his men and women. Definitely, it will be very difficult to start a collective healing of a nation like the Philippines if no one would accept their weaknesses, responsibilities and accountability. Besides doing the lying in a collective gathering for prayer and guidance would really turn the stomach out of the citizenry. Others would not believe that the President would go down to such lowest level of a person lying to the nation to save himself and his best friend. 

Saving Peace or Saving lives

Storm surging for peace and waging battles against all out war seem to be very difficult in the situation where the leadership of the country would always prefer to safely stay in their own comfort zones. They could not ever afford to be open enough to accept suggestions coming from not their considered friends. 

In fact, as the situations unfolded and the Presidential blunders have exposed themselves of the real authors of choosing to have the peace talks with the MILF rather than saving the lives of the SAF/PNP who implemented the operation against Marwan. The more the President tries to save General Purisima from accountability the more people believe that since he (Purisima) was the direct line of President to Gen. Napenas and vice versa- the more it is becoming clear that Purisima had failed to make the coordination of OPLAN EXUDUS (OPLAN against Marwan) with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and affected the chain of command responsibility to officer in charge (OIC) of the PNP-Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina and the Secretary Mar Roxas from the Department of Interior and Local Governance (DILG).

This major gap in the OPLAN EXODUS had affected the timely arrival of reinforcements for the 84 Airborne Assault Company of the PNP and the 55th Blocking Company of the PNP.               

Signs have surfaced that made the President to disapprove the sending of the AFP and the remaining SAF to reinforce the beleaguered 84 Airborne PNP and the 55 PNP/SAF. The decision to save the peace talks with the MILF rather than the SAF/PNP came from the head of Office of Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) who have been denying her knowledge and involvement on the earlier part of the process of January 25, 2015, Secretary Teresita “Ging” Deles of OPAPP contacted by members of Committee on Ceasefire and Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) for advice. She was   the one who reached out to the President to refrain from introducing reinforcement because the MILF might think that the government forces could be attacking them and might respond appropriately thus breaking up the ceasefire and ultimately the peace talks. 

Another point which has unfolded in the events of the Mamasapano carnage is the fact the 84 Airborne SAF-the assaulting company had with them a human intelligence asset who did not only guide them (84 Airborne) directly to Marwan’s hut but also knew very well the communities and the people there. In fact, by past experience, this human guide, must be an senior officer of the MILF who could coordinate with the different MILF base commands in the area and the BIFF and could lead the PNP/SAF (Assault and blocking companies) safety out of the area.  But the sad fact here was that this human asset who knew his way around and was respected by the people in the communities was fatally shot in the early stages of the assault of Marawan’s hut thus making the assault company almost blind in their retreat and their regroupment with the other SAF/PNP. The presence of an MILF officer as an asset would not be known officially within the MILF because of the sensitivity of his role with the US anit-terrorist campaign and his being part of the SAF/PNP as an agent. This is similar to Al Goshi case, only that the Mamasapano operation involved many elements of PNP/SAF while in the former only very few individual (including an MILF leader) was involved. This fact of the Mamasapano (and Al Goshi) event as revealed how deep the engagement and involvement of US counterterrorism operations have reached inside the country and especially in Mindanao. 

Non-State and becoming State entity

Furthermore, the Mamasapano debate has educated the peace builders and the general citizenry about the state and non-state relationships and the changes they have to undergo in the long process of dynamics in peace talks. Insights can be learned into the internal functioning of the different mechanisms which have been set up to maintain coordination and mutually agreed guidelines in the implementation of technical and substantial part of the agreement between the two parties.

The struggle of the Bangsamoro for the right to self-determination as currently lead by the MILF is directed towards the elimination of national oppression as perpetuated by the country’s ruling elite and represented by the President Noy Aquino’s Administration within the neo-liberal framework of capitalist led globalization.

The concrete political objective of the MILF’s led struggle for self-determination is to set-up political autonomy by setting-up the Bangsamoro in a nation/state Philippines framework. 

The current stage of the GPH-MILF peace talk is the setting-up of the legal foundation for the establishment of the Bangsamoro which is the Bangsamoro Basic Law and will still undergo legislative and judiciary processes and approval. Both parties had already signed peace framework agreement on October 12, 2012 and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in March 27, 2014. 

The MILF has already agreed that it became part of the quasi-government instrument when it (MILF) chairs and participates in the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), whose tasks among others is to draft the BBL to be submitted to the Philippine Congress for approval. 

The GPH has provided the budget for the functioning of the BTC until today for the other tasks of the BTC which are to propose the constitutional amendment of the Philippines 1987 Constitution and to make and propose the development framework for the Bangsamoro. 

Such situation puts the MILF into a transition stage from being non-state into state entity. And therefore when MILF leadership claimed that they would not appear in the government investigating bodies e.g. congress after the Mamasapano, there seems to be confusion. The MILF puts its rightly when it said that they are still a revolutionary organization because it has not yet signed a complete and final peace agreement with the Philippine government. This means that they (MILF) with the international implementing bodies have been satisfied with the implementation of the four annexes. Until then, the MILF can still have the full command of 35% of the fully armed BIAF. This has serious implication in the constitutional section where it says that the country will have only one armed force and one police force. But for the fulfillment of its political objective of setting the Bangsamor Entity  albeit through non-armed ways, the MILF remains to be revolutionary unless the changes  they want to effect to the ARMM is just superficial then they can become just like the Moro traditional politicians. But they (MILF) have to attend congressional activities like the investigation on the Mamasapano fiasco. Many people and various groups have appreciated the attendance of Mohagher Iqbal in these congressional hearings. 

Rebuilding the trust and confidence

Another step favorable to the continuation of the peace process is the move of the MILF to return the fire arms of the slain SAF/PNP but it should be more laudable especially for the love ones and close relatives of the murdered SAF/PNP if personals belongings e.g. cellphones, watches…should be returned as well. 

Another big challenge to be hurdled by the MILF/BIAF leadership is whether to surrender their commanders who led the MILF assault which resulted to the death of the SAF/PNP to the government of the Philippines or to the international monitoring team headed by Malaysia-which is also the facilitator of the GPH-MILF peace talks. It should be very important to mention here that the Malaysian facilitator is also the current head of the Malaysia Intelligence of their Armed Forces, equivalent to the Intelligence of the AFP (ISAFP). A very difficult balancing act here should be observed. This means that the Mamasapano actual battle and dynamics and the murder of the 44 SAF/PNP should be given in the hands of the foreign government and which is not necessary neutral in the peace talks.  Malaysian investors have already poured in millions of dollars in investment in Mindanao and specifically in the Bangsamoro areas.  Besides, the issue of the Sulu Sultanate’s claim of Sabah has not been sufficiently addressed by both the Philippine government and the MILF. The issue on foreign intervention by Malaysian government in the affairs of the Philippines even if it is in the context of facilitating peace between GPH and the MILF cannot be avoided. In fact, the assignment of the Head of Malaysian Intelligence offices as facilitator to the peace process can never be considered neutral.

At this stage, it should help a lot if both sides (GPH and MILF) will review the peace process and the current stage that they are engaged in now and from that standpoint review and manage the mess created by the Mamasapano bloody incident.

The Mamasapano bloody encounter has created a new normal in the peace process between the GPH and MILF.  It would be a big mistake for both to continue the process as if business as usual.  After the process of identifying and accepting responsibility and accountability both sides have to rebuild the trust and confidence lost, especially from the peoples – the real stakeholders.

The people (from the North to the South) have become interested with the development of the peace talks and the process and development of BBL.

People especially the non-Muslim become worried of the nature and development of the MILF because there are Islamic movements providing Islamic awareness and system and are becoming an emerging global phenomenon. Not few of them have fundamentalist orientations, like the ones in Africa (Boko Haram) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) which projected negative images to the peoples in the country.  This is the main reason why the peoples have reacted strongly when they saw the video through social media about the inhuman treatment of the MILF and the BIFF of the wounded and helpless SAF/PNP officials on the ground.  Many people equated this scenario to the ISIS beheading of their helpless kidnapped victims.

These developments should be given immediate considerations because if these are settled and trust and confidence should little by little be restored then the issue of reviewing and approving the BBL will not be difficult as it is seen today.

Conclusion 

With the new normal situation after the Mamasapano failed Police operation both the GPH and the MILF have to make a major review of the peace process they have journeyed together. It would be very appropriate period to take another look of the inclusivity of the nature of peace they both are trying to build in the Bangsamoro region. The current peace track they are trying to pursue is definitely not the right and appropriate one. The Mamasapano bloody incident has proven that the peace they (GPH and MILF) have tried to achieve is built in a very weak foundation and can easily be broken. The not so humbling attitude of both parties in facing and accepting suggestions and ideas made the gaps hard to fill up. 

The Mamasapano unfortunate incident created an atmosphere of openness and strengthens the value of being patience to achieve goal in peace building. 

Storm surging for peace simply means to pick up the pieces of the different initiatives and build durable, people centered and just peace in the Bangsamoro areas and the surrounding regions. It can only be sustainable if the people have internalized their stakeholdership in the process. Storm surging for peace can only be successfully achieved if these faster tracked efforts are implemented with unwavering determination and positive hope of the concrete realization of better tomorrow.

The All Out War that is Hated by All

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The Peace that Matters Most

Raymund De Silva
March 3, 2015

In the next few days, the Mamasapano bloody incident will celebrate its 40th day with heightened indignations and protests. The broad public outcries came from the north to the south of the country and from the ordinary folks to the alumni of the two professional military institutions – The Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA), where several of the Special Action Force (SAF) killed in the Mamasapano clash had graduated and from Philippine Military Academy (PMA). The intensifying anger and frustrations are directed to the leadership of the current Aquino administration – specially the President for not taking responsibility of the botched police operation and lying to the nation about what really happened in the planning and the execution of the OPLAN Exodus. The OPLAN  had been a continuing mission to arrest or neutralize a Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and his Filipino assistant – Basit Usman with the decisive and direct participation of the United States (US) operatives and the suspended Director General of the Philippine National Police – General Allan Purisima – one of the closest friends of the President.

It has taken President “Noy” a longer time to immediately accept  the direct responsibility and what is obviously a calibrated lying on the bloody encounter on January 25, 2015 where 44 SAF/PNP had been murdered because of the following: his closest friend has been involved – while still serving his suspension period for corruption; the direct involvement of the US intelligence agency; and the about to be concluded peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). And this is not necessarily according to that order.

The first reason, the involvement of General Allan Purisima in the OPLAN Exodus while in suspension has violated the basic principle of the line of command/responsibility and Command responsibility. In the latest Senate hearing and investigation, General Purisima had accepted that he was the overall commander of the OPLAN Exodus after vehemently and stubbornly denying his involvement in the failed police operation. He was instrumental in the action of not informing the Acting Director General Espina and Mar Roxas of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). His suspended status and yet his being the overall commander of such very important mission had made things clearer on the confusion and eventual delayed reinforcement actions of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Western Mindanao Command and the 6th Infantry Division to the timely rescue of the 55th Company SAF and the 84th Company Airborne SAF. The lives of the 55th Company and the 84th Airborne SAF Company, including the 44 SAF who died were entirely in Purisima’s hands.

The second reason, the direct involvement of the US operatives including the use of unmanned drones in the OPLAN Exodus has been justified by the President’s men and women through the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), its (US) leading and controlling role in the planning, actual and post OPLAN’s operation had been so blatant an scandalizing for the Philippines’ PNP and AFP. It shows and ugly picture of the SAF 44 dying for the US bidding and interests in the global war against terrorism.

President Noy has been so obsessed about the last phase of the Peace Talks with the MILF that he does not want to be identified with the bloody Mamasapano encounter and has to tow the line of the MILF that what occurred in January 25, 2015 was a mis-encounter. He has maintained this position even while everybody believes that the 44 SAF were butchered by the MILF and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

Currently, another set of lies has been prepared by the President and his administration. They are spreading the story that it was Purisima – the President’s closest friend, who had lied to the President which resulted to his making untimely and inappropriate actions like direct ordering of reinforcement to the AFP which surely could have still save many of the SAF. The Aquino administration is trying its best to diffuse the anger and the continuous outpouring of sentiments by the relatives of the SAF and the people by pointing a finger to Purisima and sacrificing him inspite of his closeness to the President.

The Presidential ONESIDEDNESS and the INTERRELATEDNESS of the Peace Process and the Mamasapano bloody incident

They strongly believe that by the acceptance of the President of Purisima’s resignation as Director General of the PNP, people would be pacified and believe the stories of the President. Obviously, they (Aquino) again misread and underestimated the people because their anger and growing mistrust to the President have led them to put into question the worthiness and viability of the continuation of the peace talks of the government under Aquino with the MILF.

The Mamasapano bloody incident has opened up the core weakness of the current Presidency –  governance and leadership. When the US agents with Purisima and the leadership of the SAF planned to execute OPLAN Exodus, the President had approved its execution knowing fully well that it could complicate the continuation of the about to be concluded peace talks with the MILF. He could not refuse its implementation because he was just considering the positive side of this important mission and its glorious global impact on his presidency because an international terrorist like Marwan was neutralized under his administration. The President has already felt the success with the peace process because the International Community has been praising him for pursuing peace with the MILF.

Definitely, the President has refused to factor in that the OPLAN Exodus and the Peace Process could be interrelated because behind the peace process are people like Marwan hiding and waiting for an opportune moment while riding on the process and its aftermath to strike in the name of its belief.

The very unfortunate event in Mamasapano has opened up many realities which have  been bypassed in the name of fast tracking the consummation of the peace process. It has surfaced the many voices stifled and permanently silenced because they had tried to articulate the peace that matter most to the broadest section of peoples in Mindanao.

Obviously, the President is losing both his campaign against terrorism which could even lead on allowing himself to be used by the US security forces and continue to call on the service of his suspended friend bypassing the command hierarchy and the peace process with the MILF because he has been misled by his peace advisers who do not fully know the dynamics of Mindanao and its peoples.

International terrorists like Marwan can only effectively stay and hide in areas where people are living in extreme economic deprivation, social inequality and political isolation. There is always a friendly revolutionary organization who is willing to vouch or his (Marwan) reliability and security to the people. The Moro people who have suffered in economic and social miseries secured people like Marwan to staynd share with them the blatant neglect and deprivation in such depressed communities.

The Peace which Matters after the Elimination of National Oppression

The struggle for the Right to Self-Determination of the Bangsamoro currently led by the MILF should be geared towards the elimination of the national oppression brought about by the neo-liberal globalization as implemented by the current Aquino administration. Economic policies and progress are liberalized to open-up the country’s market to the global capital with the direct participation and benefit of the national and local economic elites (Filipino and Bangsamoro). Less and less participation is given to the elected political leaders including the Bangsamoro (existing ARMM) function because it is the unseen hands of people hidden behind the Multi-lateral financial institutions who have been dictating the policies and programs e.g. Structural Adjustment Program and embodied in the so-called Development Plans.

The elimination of the national oppression includes the untangling of these unseen hands and manifested in the national chauvinism of the majority nationality led by the current Aquino administration. The political objective of the struggle for the right to self-determination in the framework of one state/nation is genuine political autonomy. This objective can only be fully realized if done together with the struggle of democratic rights of the Bangsamoro and other democratic sectors of the oppressed peoples. In the case of the current MILF led struggle, it should be building of social and political infrastructures of the Bangsamoro democratic sectors.

The political and democratic struggle of the toiling masses of the Bangsamoro together with the other oppressed sectors of the IPs and the majority nationality is a sure way that the establishment of the Bangsamoro is not a mainstreaming by the national government of the Moro people as part of the modern day version of national integration

The establishment of the Bangsamoro government therefore is not only replacing the so called failed political experiment – the ARMM – but building and making alive the Bangsamoro nation with the active participation of the democratic forces and institutions of the Bangsamoro and other oppressed sectors of the peoples in the region.

The absence of a distinct Bangsamoro economy should be urgently addressed because it will be the country’s economic development program with the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines – East Asia Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) as its (Mindanao) role to this regional economic integration will be used as development framework. The much projected Sadja Hatra Economic Development program of the Bangsamoro where the President himself attended in its launching had been silently replaced by the Bangsamoro Development Program supported by the multi-lateral financial institutions like World Bank.

Concretely, the socio-economic and political realities of the communities of the Bangsamoro should be effectively addressed by a revolutionary organization like the MILF which would want itself to be relevant and avoid another political failed experiment. The absence of the formal economic and financing system and institutions in many areas of the Bangsamoro communities should be effectively given attention so that regular functioning of economic system and formal financial infrastructures be established and strengthened.

The informal economic and financial system have been controlled by the rich but informal sectors in the communities. They do not pay taxes but effectively control the lives of the people in their areas.
The establishment of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) will not be enough unless its members and officials will have to work hard to correct the gaps and the non-presence of the elected political officials in their respective political domain and areas.

The MILF has to broaden its outlooks and concerns because when it takes over the ARMM with the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) and eventually with the establishment of the regular Bangsamoro government it will not only cater to the MILF’s rank and file but more so to the people who are not MILF and peoples who are not Bangsamoro.

Both tasks of building a formal and viable economic and financial system and establishing and strengthening infrastructures and dynamic and functional political machineries should be given urgent attention. Building the Bangsamoro is not only replacing the people who used to work in the ARMM, it is most of all building political infrastructure which are mainly and ultimately responsive to the democratic interests of the peoples.

The January 25, 2015 bloody encounter could have exposed the lack or absence of seriousness on the part Aquino administration to help address the socio-economic and political concerns of the Moro people. It has become clear that the political and economic infrastructures in the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) are made sure by the Congress to tailor fit in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It will undergo a process of 2008 MOA-AD type of constitutional test and validity. The MILF will definitely contest the result on lesser moral ground.

The Mamasapano armed clash between the SAF/PNP and the MILF and BIFF had helped surfaced issues and concerns and the needed time to reexamine basic principles and given a priori in a peace process.

In the mutually agreed version of BBL as submitted to both houses of Congress the political and democratic principles and concerns of the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) have been intentionally neglected. The inherent rights of the IPs over their ancestral domain and the development of the Indigenous Political Structure in the core areas of the Bangsamoro have not been incorporated in the BBL amidst various advocacy struggles and democratic representations.

The existence of ceasefire agreement between the two parties (GPH and MILF) could have provided given opportunities for the MILF and the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) to consolidate its forces and build up its military hardwares. In some areas, expansion activities are observed with the local base commands of the BIAF which simply means that the MILF/BIAF is expanding the Bangsamoro territory beyond the ARMM agreed territory which could eventually be included in the expanded territory of the Bangsamoro.

But the most important is the revelation and public exposure of the basing of International terrorist like Marwan in the claimed MILF territories and shared with the BIFF. The benefits that terrorists like Marwan had enjoyed because of the peace process and the ceasefire has been affected by the same peace process and ceasefire agreement as it violates the standing agreement of allowing international terrorists to use identified and claimed territories as base of it terroristic operations. Marwan was pursued by SAF/PNP because of its criminal and terroristic activities in the middle of MILF claimed territory.

There could not be a violation of ceasefire agreement of the SAF/PNP if the MILF did not allow terrorists like Marwan to stay and had a base in the MILF claimed territory.

Another public revelation which came out into the surface was the undeniable relationship of the MILF and the BIFF. The Mamasapano bloody incident showed to one and all that the difference between the two (MILF and BIFF) is just in name and nothing else.

Meanwhile it is the people of Mindanao who are paying a high price of these political blunders of the GPH and the MILF. At least more than 54,000 peoples have been displaced in Maguindanao province because of the all-out war launched by the AFP against the BIFF and at least 35,000 people are displaced in the North Cotabato areas because of the so-called operations against the BIFF.

Whose Lives Matter?

A Reflection on the GPH-MILF Peace Talks, the BBL and the Mamasapano Incident
Raymund De Silva
February 2015

The residents and the Mayor of the fifth class municipality of Mamasapano of the province of Maguindanao have never in their dreams considered their town to be so projected and famous in the News both nationally and internationally.

Before January 25, 2015, unknown to many the municipality has been the key area of responsibility of the Moro Islamic Liberations Front’s (MILF) Base Commands 105, 106 and 118. In its barangays and sitios the MILF and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter  (BIFF) share territories  and this is known to the residents but unknown to many others. And unknown to many more that Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, Basit Usman and other international terrorists had been living comfortably and moving freely in the communities  and territories claimed by MILF.

The Mamasapano bloody incident has changed the above mentioned unknowns. In the MILF claimed territories in Mamasapano it became known that they (MILF) shares the territories and communities with the BIFF. They are closely related by affinity and by marriages. In the past, there were incidents of armed clashes between the MILF Base Commands 105 against 106 but never against BIFF.

It has also become known that international terrorists like Marwan lived in the areas and communities shared by both the MILF and BIFF.

The mission to serve the warrant of arrest and the eventual neutralization of Marwan by the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police (SAF/PNP) could not be implemented without getting serious reactions from both the MILF and BIFF.

The Mamasapano bloody encounter between the SAF/PNP  and the MILF/BIAF and the BIFF resulted to the lost of lives of 44 SAF/PNP, 18 MILF and 5 civilians. Casualties from the BIFF were never known unless BIFF deaths were counted in the 18 BIAF dead.

The SAF/PNP mission to arrest top level terrorist was not coordinated with the MILF for obvious reason.

The MILF cried foul because the SFA/PNP did not coordinate with them prior to the operation and they (SAF/PNP) had violated the ceasefire agreement. The MILF has claimed the January 25 encounter as misencounter because of the abovementioned reasons. The PNP/SAF leadership reasoned out that there could have been no operation to serve the warrant if the MILF (because of the on-going peace talks) had not allowed the stay of Marwan and his assistants to their claimed communities. The more than half day bloody clash between the two forces could hardly be qualified as misencounter. In fact, when the video footages showing MILF/BIAF men finishing off at close range the wounded SAF/PNP men laying helpless on the ground came out in social media, nobody would believe about the January 25 bloody encounter as misencounter.

Outbursts of emotions and widespread sentiments were generated as a result of such massacre and inhuman treatment of the wounded. The deliberations of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) have been suspended by both houses of Congress. Serious questions have been raised on the trust and confidence in the MILF on the peace talks.

Before January 25, 2015 massacre,  the President and the executive department have been pressuring everybody, including the Congress to fast track the discussion and pass the BBL so he (President) can sign it into law and 60 days after a plebiscite will be held in the identified Bangsamoro territory. By then, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority will be established replacing the existing Autonomous Region in muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

But just like the 2008 Memorandum Of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), the Supreme Court had stopped the implementation of the Agreement on the eve of its signing on the basis of its unconstitutionality.

The BBL’s approval is indefinitely postponed and the process for discussion of the last phase of the final peace agreement is stalled because of the Mamasapano bloddy encounter.

For those who would like to have the peace agreement in whatever form and substance they argue that the approval of the BBL and the peace process should not be held hostage by the Mamasapano incident. This position is promoted by no less than the President of the Republic. To this day, the President maintained that the Mamasapano bloody encounter is a misencounter. He said that the deaths of 44 SAF/PNP would be in vain if the BBL and the peace with MILF will not be pursued.

Many others are saying that if the SAF/PNP did not make the mission to arrest international terrorists in the MILF/BIAF areas then who and when can this mission be done. If the BBL is approved and the Bangsamoro government is established it will have administrative control of the Bangsamoro Police Force whose head with a the rank of Chief Superintendent  (a one star general) will be nominated by the Chief Minister as contained in the BBL. Then many interior and not so interior areas and communities will be used freely by international terrorists like Marwan. The BIFF can operate freely in the area of responsibilities of several MILF base commands and will be protected by the Bangsamoro Police Force and from there Marwan and his cohorts can launch operations as part of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS.

It is on this context, that the lives of the forty four (44) SAF/PNP really matter. These heroes paid a very high price to give everyone the needed time to reflect and to build a genuine, sustainable and justice based peace. They did a supreme sacrifice so more lives could be saved.

The impasse and the lull period the unfortunate incident has created and unfolded situations whereby the real interests of those who want the BBL’s approval and the peace talks consummated have come into the surface.

Big capitalists from the multi-national companies have began to invest in Mindanao especially in petro and agri-chemical industries and the giant mining companies. Billions of dollars have been initially invested even as the BBL and the Peace agreement have not been finalized. These multi-national investors are coming mainly from Malaysia, Indonesia and several Middle East countries. These investors want the BBL and the Peace Accord to be approved and finalized so that they can use then as their right to exploit the remaining vast and very rich natural resources in Mindanao with the Philippine government and the MILF as partners.

The World Bank (WB) has expressed its outmost concerns on the delay of the approval of BBL and the indefinite postponement of the peace process because the implementation of it new country partnership strategy will be delayed. This new strategy is implemented in support of the peace process in Mindanao. It has allocated P14 Billions this year (2015) to boost community driven development projects and build rural infrastructure and expand livelihood opportunity to farmers and the fisherfolks in Mindanao. The WB has been scaling up its activities to socially prepare Mindanao for the entry of large scale agribusiness, mining and logging operations.

The same concerns have been expressed by the Mindanao Business Council (MinBC). The postponement of the approval of the BBL and signing of the Peace Agreement will definitely affect the ongoing business activities of Malaysian and Indonesian investors in banana, oil palm and pineapple large scale farms. They have also invested on ducks and poultry raising. They have started the exploration of the Liguasan Marsh and Lake Lanao for Petrochemical developments. Initial results of studies show that, these areas have billions of barrels of oil and natural gas beneath them.

The Chair of Bangsamoro Development Agency, Dr Saffrullah Dipatuan, has been worried of the delay of the implementation of the Bangsamoro Development Plan if the approval of the BBL is delayed.

The unification of Mindanao as one market is a requirement for its role in the economic integration of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines – East Asian Growth Area or BIMP-EAGA. Stable political situation in Mindanao will greatly help the realization of the market and economic integration of the region. Peace talks with the different revolutionary groups like the MILF are compulsory requirement.

These are the most interested sector behind the push to have the BBL approved and the Bangsamoro government is established. They do not concern themselves whether the peace will be geared towards the political settlement and really resolve the various underlying reasons why more than half of the peoples on Mindanao are living in abject poverty.

This kind of people is just after the fulfillment of their interest that they do not mind if the national oppression suffered by the Bangsamoro and the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) for centuries is effectively addressed. In fact it is obvious that they (investors) are happy if peoples are divided so as to easily control and manage them. The basic democratic issue of territories or the ancestral domain issue, the Bangsamoro as led by the MILF would not explicitly pronounce or even write in the BBL the inherent right of the IPs to their Ancestral Domains and as distinct people they have the right to develop and practice their own Indigenous Political Structure (IPS) since time immemorial.

The IPs in the core Bangsamoro territories are struggling for genuine autonomy within the arrangement of Bangsamoro autonomy. They (IPs) have been struggling for this inherent right within and without the struggle for right to self-determination of the Bangsamoro led earlier by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and now with the MILF.

It should concern us all that the struggle of the IPs for their Ancestral Domain has been subjected to extreme political harassments. It intensifies all the more when the IPs have began to protest the mineral exploitations of their territories. Nine of them have already been assassinated and more are coming with several dozens of the leaders and members are placed on the hit list.

In pursuing just and lasting peace, the lives of the majority of the three peoples in Mindanao are really the ones that matter.

The lives of the 44 SAF/PNP, 18 MILF, 5 civilians and the 9 IPs have been offered as supreme sacrifice not for the multinational investors and those who have their selfish interests with having the peace in whatever form and substance.

For the continuation of the deliberations of Congress in the BBL, everyone should be concerned that the supreme sacrifice of our new heroes should be put in the content of BBL in both spirits and words.

Let us all work for Peace based on Justice and centered in the interests of the toiling masses of the three peoples in Mindanao. Let us not allow the politicians, multi-national corporations, those unseen policy makers and those who claim to be in the revolutionary and peace organizations to craft the issues of the present and future generations without their active involvement in all phases of the peace process.

It is and will always be their lives that matter. Let us make the Mamasapano incident as a light to always illuminate us on the road of having an inclusive peace.