MILF won’t hunt down Bali bombers, shuns US reward

MARAWI CITY — Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels have shunned an $11-million bounty offered by the US government for help in capturing two suspects behind this month’s terrorist bombings in Bali, Indonesia.

Jun Mantawil, MILF peace panel head, said the guerrillas would continue to help the government stop and isolate kidnappers and other criminal gangs in territories under their control, but "reward money corrupts the mind and promotes treachery."

In a statement posted on the luwaran.com website yesterday, Mantawil said the MILF will not take part in the manhunt for Dulmatin and Umar Patek, whom the US government suspects to be behind the recent bombings in Bali, Indonesia that killed more than 20 and wounded scores of people.

"The MILF will not participate in the manhunt in consideration of the bounty offered," he said.

"The MILF decides on any undertaking on the basis of principle. Criminals should be punished, including death, in accordance with Muslim law."

The rebel group has entered into initial peace talks with the Philippine government, though a sticking point remains the MILF’s reported coddling of Jemaah Islamiyah terror suspects.

The rescue of three-year-old Ralph Alcuar and the capture of his kidnappers led by Pentagon gang chieftain Abo Jalil were the result of cooperation between the MILF and the government, Mantawil noted.

Dulmatin and Patek are believed to be in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur provinces under the protection of Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani.

The US has put up a reward of $10 million for information leading to the capture of Dulmatin and $1 million for Patek.

Meanwhile, the government and the MILF have completed discussions on the issue of ancestral domain in their latest round of meetings last month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"The peace talks can now move forward to another issue, and that is political agenda," MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar told The STAR yesterday.

However, Jaafar said the matter of political agenda has to be discussed first by the Central Committee before the MILF panel meets with the government’s negotiating panel.

"As we have been doing in this peace process, we have to make sure that any position the MILF takes at the negotiating table should be a result of a consensus among all of us in the group, especially in the Central Committee," he said.

Jaafar said he still does not know what will eventually come out of discussions about the political agenda as this will depend on talks with the MILF Central Committee.

What is important is that peace talks arrive at a peaceful, lasting and comprehensive solution to the problems of the Bangsamoro people, he added.

Jaafar said the peace process has no timetable in determining when a final peace agreement will be reached.

"We are not working on timetables here," he said. — Lino dela Cruz, Edith Regalado