COTABATO CITY – Philippine security forces killed a senior commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front during an anti-drug raid in Sultan Kudarat province on Friday which coincided with the opening of a high-level meeting in Malaysia between the former rebel group and the new government of Rodrigo Duterte.
Police said Ugalingan Manuel Jr. alias Commander Boyet was killed and 2 other followers were wounded in the fire fight after they opened fire on a group of policemen and soldiers and anti-drug agents – who were armed with two warrants to search their place for illegal drugs and weapons.
It said 10 other suspected MILF members – all linked to illegal drug trade in the southern province – were arrested in the pre-dawn raid on Manuel’s hideout in the village of Marquez in Esperanza town.
The raiders recovered assorted high-powered weapons – from grenade launchers to automatic rifles and 10 packets of suspected crystal meth or shabu.
Friend or Foe?
The MILF previously pledged support to Duterte’s war on drugs and even named several politicians and personalities it accused as behind the proliferation of crystal meth in Mindanao, but many of their members were also into the illegal drug trade and other criminal activities.
The former rebel group, which signed an interim peace deal with Manila in 2014, is currently negotiating with the Duterte government for the passage of Bangsamoro Basic Law that will govern the Muslims in the restive southern region.
The BBL was rejected by Congress during President Benigno Aquino’s administration after some of its proposed laws violated the Constitution. The MILF said it will not revisit the BBL and insisted on the original draft submitted to Aquino.
Many politicians and residents in the proposed Bangsamoro areas also rejected the BBL and wanted out of the deal, citing various reasons and the failure of the Aquino government and peace negotiators from both sides to include recommendations submitted by the provinces in the autonomous region.
The BBL was drafted by the 15-member Bangsamoro Transition Commission appointed by the MILF and the Aquino government.
BBL
The on-going talks in Kuala Lumpur from August 13-14 are centered on the BBL and the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). Duterte even vowed to implement all signed peace agreements with the MILF.
“This (meeting) is actually to launch the implementation stage of what we envisioned to be a Bangsamoro enabling law. It is to implement the CAB that was signed between the government and the MILF in 2014,” said Jesus Dureza, the presidential peace adviser.
“We have already gotten the consensus of all sectors in the Bangsamoro that the period of the negotiations is over. We are now in the process of implementing all these signed agreements,” he added.
He said the meeting with the MILF is hinged on the Peace and Development Roadmap that was recently approved by Duterte. Under the peace plan, all peace agreements -MILF’s CAB and the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), as well the key results of the 10-year-old Philippines-Organization of Islamic Cooperation-MNLF Tripartite Review Process will be integrated into the new enabling law that will create a new Bangsamoro government unit; thus, replacing the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Dureza said the implementation of the peace agreement with the MILF largely depends on its political track since the BBL – the supposed implementing mechanism of the CAB – failed to pass in the previous Congress.
He said the meeting would zero-in on the mechanism that will determine how the new enabling law will be crafted, as well as to discuss key provisions in the CAB that can already be implemented, including the delivery of socio-economic development programs in Mindanao.
ARMM support
ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman, who is part of Dureza’s team, said “the regional government reaffirms its own commitment to the peace process, and pledges its support to the programs and initiatives that are part and parcel of the panels’ peace efforts. We believe that with the optimism that comes with this new chapter in the peace process, it is important to take note of our gains and build on those milestones we have achieved.”
“The mutual trust and respect that is now apparent among the stakeholders of the GPH-MILF peace process was built through engaging in dialogue with open hearts and minds. We hope that this same spirit of goodwill and cooperation will continue to guide not only the panels, but all those who have a stake in the future of the Bangsamoro,” he added.(With a report from Moh Saaduddin)
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