MILF rebuilding its forces - Army field commanders

MANILA, Philippines – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is rebuilding its forces, taking advantage of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to up its recruitment efforts for a planned counteroffensive, military field commanders said yesterday.

“We are anticipating another bout with them after Ramadan. They really want a second bout because they were humiliated by their setbacks here in North Cotabato,” a field commander who declined to be named said.

He said the MILF has stepped up its recruitment even as it continues to bury its more than a hundred fighters killed in the military offensive in the past weeks.

Ground reports from the Liguasan Marsh told of the stench of rotting corpses of MILF fighters and how their surviving comrades were rushing to collect and bury them.

He said some of the guerrillas have broken into smaller groups and blended with civilians.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Alexander Yano earlier ordered field commanders to be always on guard for possible MILF attacks following President Arroyo’s decision to dissolve the peace panel.

The military said MILF rebels fired at a military outpost midnight Thursday in Barangay Ganta in Kabuntulan, Shariff Kabungsuan, triggering a 15-minute firefight. No casualties were reported.

“We expect the worst but we are prepared,” Philippine National Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Federico Capuyan said in Iligan City.

“The MILF cannot blackmail the government to wage an all-out-war,” Maj. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, chief of the Army’s 1st Infantry “Tabak” Division, said. “The MILF wants a protracted war to give the government a big problem.”

At Malacañang, Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said it was the MILF’s “lack of sincerity” that prompted Mrs. Arroyo to dissolve the peace panel.

“Turning point is the realization of the government that there is lack of sincerity on the part of the MILF,” Dureza told a news briefing. “Since they (MILF leaders) said they can’t turn over those who committed acts against civilian communities, that is the turning point that led to the paradigm shift in the peace process,” he said.

In Bacolod City, deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said the dissolution of the peace panel is not the end of the peace negotiations but rather a new perspective in the government’s approach to talking peace with the MILF.

“We cannot discuss peace when the other party is pointing a gun at us,” he said.

GMA decision backed, scorned

House allies have expressed support for President Arroyo’s dissolution of the peace panel.

“The President made the correct decision,” Speaker Prospero Nograles told members of the Manila Overseas Press Club. “In our honest assessment, the panel has brought more problems than solutions.

“We would like to have lasting peace where we are talking to the right people and the people negotiating with us are those who can enforce the chain of command in their areas,” he said.

Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan said, “Her message is loud and clear. She is the President and she runs this country. Nobody can tell her what to do.”

The vice chairman of the House committee on justice added that “the government cannot talk peace with a group who’s engaged in violence.”

Malabon-Navotas Rep. Alvin Sandoval, for his part, said the atrocities committed by some MILF commanders as well the refusal of the rebel group’s leadership to turn them over to authorities have raised serious doubts about the MILF’s sincerity.

“It’s very sad because the surrender of the commanders could have been an act of goodwill on the part of the MILF leadership to show their commitment to peace,” Sandoval, vice chair of the House committee on transportation, said.

A senior Muslim lawmaker called on senators yesterday to stop making “theatrical juramentado acts” by demanding punishment for peace process adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and members of the dissolved peace panel.

“I think senators should not go overboard with their criticisms because words like those they said do not contribute one bit to the peace process,” Anak Mindanao Rep. Mujiv Hataman said.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan earlier said the members of the peace panel “should take the cue from the Japanese and resign or commit hara-kiri.”– With Paolo Romero, James Mananghaya, Delon Porcalla, Evelyn Macairan, Katherine Adraneda, Edith Regalado, Lino dela Cruz, and Antonieta Lopez