Beheading suspects elude cops

TABIAWAN, Basilan – Hundreds of heavily armed policemen in a convoy of vehicles came up empty as they swept into remote villages in Albarka town to serve warrants of arrest on guerrillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Abu Sayyaf leaders involved in the July 10 ambush.

Initial reports said policemen and troops came back without arresting anyone after none of the suspects living in the villages came out to accept the warrants.

“We knocked on three houses but there was nobody there,” according to Basilan provincial police director Superintendent Macapantar Salik.

“We also went to a suspected MILF camp nearby, but it was abandoned as well,” he added.

Police officers serving warrants went to the area amid heavy rain in a convoy of 10 vehicles backed by an armored troop transport with mounted machine guns. They had to hike the final 1.5 kilometers because roads did not reach that far.

“We believe they have fled although they are still within the area,” one of the policemen serving the warrants said.

Salik added they would visit other villages to try to find and arrest the other suspects.

“If they resist arrest we are prepared to fight. If need be, we can call on our counterparts in the Armed Forces for reinforcements,” he said.

The arresting lawmen and the troops later received orders to withdraw from serving the warrants. 

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police director Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao said they called off the service of the arrest warrants following the appeal made by the joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH).

According to Goltiao, they were already in the area when they received instructions from the military’s Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom), relaying the appeal of the CCCH to defer the operations until after the conclusion of the investigation on Thursday.

“We are hoping that there would be a major breakthrough in the peaceful efforts of putting those responsible for the beheading of the Marines behind bars,” Goltiao said.

National Security Adviser and acting Defense chief Norberto Gonzales said troops were ordered to stand down to allow the CCCH to finish its investigation until Thursday to avert the possible spillover of violence.

Gonzales said preparations for the tactical operation by about 5,000 Marines and Army troops backing up the police were halted and will not resume until the go-signal is given to arrest the suspects.

“We will await the result of the investigation,” Gonzales said.

“(But) of course we are telling them (the joint ceasefire committee) at least to hurry up because we understand that while government troops are preparing the other side (MILF) is also preparing. So, there is no time factor here,” he said.

Gonzales said the movement of military forces in Basilan is an extensive intelligence operation designed to help the police in the effort to serve the warrants of arrest.

“The entire intelligence service of the country is engaged,” he said.

Gonzales admitted the possibility that some of those involved in the July 10 ambush might have escaped.

He noted reports that some of those being targeted for arrest have already fled out of Albarka.

The warrant of arrests issued by the Basilan court indicated a total of 113 persons involved in the ambush.

No one among the 113 yielded when the police and military moved in to serve the arrest warrants, prompting the lawmen to believe that they might have fled. 

“That is being considered,” Gonzales said. “I want you to know, you probably are not aware how extensive these operations are – which mean that what you are seeing are just the Armed Forces and the police deploying themselves.”

Gonzales vowed to track down the 113 suspects in the ambush.

“Whoever and wherever they are we will catch them. The beheaders have no place in the country and their acts are definitely not accepted in this 21st century,” he said.

Tossing the brunt

President Arroyo suspended a planned punitive military operation against the MILF on Basilan to allow for the arrest of the suspects.

The 12,000-member MILF, which has been observing a three-year truce with the government amid efforts to bring a negotiated end to decades of insurgency in Mindanao, has admitted its forces killed the 14 Marines.

But the MILF denied beheading and mutilating 10 of the soldiers and rejected a military demand to turn over those behind the attack.

The action against the MILF was delayed until Tuesday on the appeal of the CCCH to allow the investigation to continue.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the President has given the Philippine National Police (PNP) the full discretion to serve the arrest warrants on the suspects.

Ermita stressed the service of the arrest warrants is a matter for the police to enforce and needs no presidential intervention.

“It’s not for the President to decide… she has left it to the field commanders and the chief (of the) PNP to decide,” Ermita said.

Ermita defended the service of the warrants in saying the police are merely tasked to implement a judicial order but acknowledged the importance of preserving the peace process with the MILF.

“There is a peace process, which is why we are measuring our moves… if it was a combat encounter then there would be nothing to discuss, but because this is a heinous crime where they decapitated and mutilated the body of our soldiers, that falls into a criminal act, which is why we are acting,” Ermita said.

PNP chief Director General Oscar Calderon said they would still carry out the arrests as soon as possible since any delay “would give time for the subjects to strengthen their position.”

He admitted serving the warrants of arrest is not an easy task for the police since they are expecting stiff resistance from the suspects.

“I don’t expect a peaceful service of warrants (considering the subjects of the orders)... but then we are preparing the community for this. That’s why there have been evacuations (of residents),” Calderon said.

Nearly 6,000 residents from the towns of Albarka, Guinanta and Tipo-Tipo fled after the killings for fear of being caught up in a military assault.

Meanwhile, the two chairmen of the joint ceasefire committee urged the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to coordinate with the CCCH in the operation to arrest the suspects.

Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea, chairman of the government’s side on the CCCH, and his counterpart Von Al-Haq in the MILF urged the AFP against any unilateral action in serving the warrants of arrest, warning such efforts might escalate the tension in Basilan.

“We have to let the fact-finding team finish its work. We will discuss the findings on what had really happened in Albarka last July 10 with members of the MILF’s ceasefire committee and, perhaps, also with the members of the IMT (International Monitoring Team) before coming out with a resolution of that case,” Gurrea said.

Gurrea said local officials in Albarka and surrounding towns have been helping the CCCH in defusing the tension in Basilan through continuing dialogues with residents and MILF commanders in the province.

Al-Haq, for his part, said MILF chairman Al-Haj Murad ordered the guerrillas to stand down and observe maximum restraint.

“All we need is just a little more time to come out with our official findings on who were behind the beheadings of the Marines after the July 10 military-MILF encounter in Albarka,” Al-Haq said.

Malaysia also vowed to continue its peace efforts despite a looming military offensive against the MILF.

A Malaysian-led international monitoring team investigating the bloody ambush of 14 Marines earlier this month would not be pulled out, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.

Albar, who is in Manila for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting, said Kuala Lumpur was trying to break the deadlock in the peace talks.

“We are in communication with the MILF and the Philippine government to try and get talks started again,” Albar said during a press conference in Manila.

The talks, which are being brokered by Malaysia, have been deadlocked since late last year over territorial issues.

They are now on the verge of collapse as the government prepares for a major assault on MILF positions in Basilan to arrest those behind the July 10 attack.

“We are doing everything possible. And with a strong commitment from the Philippine government... that gives us encouragement that it (peace) is possible,” Albar said.

Not an act of war

Goltiao clarified their part of the operation against the suspects is in close coordination with local officials and religious leaders in Basilan.

“We in the ARMM police do not want any undue escalation of hostilities in Basilan. Our men will only arrest those named in the warrant. The operation is calibrated and not an act of war against the MILF as a revolutionary organization,” Goltiao said.

MILF forces went “on defensive mode” as police backed by troops were sent to arrest the suspects implicated in the ambush, rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said.

“Our forces are on a defensive mode. They (police) will not be able to get anyone. We told our forces to exercise maximum restraint, but they will fight back if attacked,” Kabalu said.

“We want the international monitoring team led by Malaysia to continue with an investigation of this incident,” he said.

Kabalu maintained the Marines illegally entered MILF territory, provoking the rebels to fight back.

Asked if the MILF had any message for Albar, he said: “For the sake of resolving the legitimate problem in the south, we want Malaysia to come in and share their support for the early resolution of this particular problem.” - With John Unson, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Pia Lee-Brago, Jaime Laude, AFP