MANILA, Philippines — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is joining the government’s brutal campaign illegal drugs on Friday, as the two sides are expected to sign agreement that would spell out the group’s role in efforts to eradicate illicit narcotics in the country.
Isidro Lapeña, the director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, announced in a media conference in Davao City that the government and the MILF were signing a protocol of cooperation to expand anti-drugs operation to areas held by the secessionist group.
Lapeña said that the agreement would enable the campaign of the government to reach areas affected by the decades-long conflict as authorities could not just enter these locations for fear that violence might erupt.
“This afternoon at 2 o’clock there will be a signing of protocol of cooperation with the MILF. That is a good manifestation on the part of our brother MNLF members to help in our anti-illegal drug campaign,” the PDEA director said, mistakenly referring to another secessionist movement in Mindanao, a resource rich island south of Manila that has been affected by criminality, lawlessness and terrorism.
According to Lapeña, the MILF, which is currently negotiating with the government the creation of an autonomous Bangsamoro State in the heart of Mindanao island, offered to join Duterte’s drug war, widely criticized by some international and local human rights groups for the mounting deaths in its wake.
According to the critics of the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, more than 7,000 people, mostly urban poor residents, have been killed since Duterte assumed the presidency last year.
However, the government disputes this figure as exaggerated, insisting that deaths related to drug operations are only at around 2,600 while around 1,850 deaths, though narcotics-related, were not because of police activity.
Lapeña said that MILF’s entry to the war on drugs was about the two sides’ “common interest” to address the scourge of illicit narcotics which authorities say have affected around four million Filipinos, although this figure has questionable basis.
To ensure that armed group would act in accordance with the government’s thrust, safeguards will be provided in the protocol of cooperation, he said.
“It’s about a common interest to address 'yung illegal drug problem. We welcome any assistance when it comes to that. There will be safeguards. That’s why we have a protocol of cooperation,” he said.
The agreement comes just a day after a group of MILF fighters attacked militiamen guarding the remote Barangay Bualan in Pikit town, sending villagers running for their safety.