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PNoy to keep truce with MILF in wake of Basilan encounter
10/21/2011 | 10:34 PM



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'Some sort of miscommunication'

‘Yung unang kailangan naming tingnan is ‘yung... we have to review the organizational setup of our forces in the two very critical areas. First, in Jolo and then — in this instance — in Basilan. So, we are doing that right now," Mabanta said.

The Special Forces troops were going after “lawless elements — in particular the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) — and what happened was when we went in, apparently there was a… some sort of a miscommunication and the MILF joined the fray."

Government is considering filing criminal charges against those responsible for the deaths of the soldiers in Basilan, the military official said. The AFP is communicating with MILF officials to uncover facts about the deadly clashes, he noted.

Military commanders decided to not ask Aquino to urge the MILF to turnover the its officers involved. They opted instead to identify, with MILF help, the persons responsible for the deaths of the Special Forces troops.

“Our intelligence will have to come up with the process of identifying and we are doing that right now. So what were doing right now is to reconcile and really come up with an investigation on what really happened,[with] both parties, meaning to say the MILF and then the government, coming up with inputs to come up with what really happened," Mabanta said.

The AFP will not enter the MILF camps, but it will continue operations against the ASG and communist rebels, said Mabanta.

The deputy chief of staff said the soldiers accept the challenges that come with wearing their uniforms. “… [L]lahat kaming sundalo, the first we took our oath, we pledged to act and become soldiers. This is already part and parcel of our job, and if we are fallen — as some of our comrades happened to be — then let it be. It’s part of our job."

“The Philippine Army troops started its uncoordinated movement into Bakisung last night (Oct. 17) and the attack was launched this morning (Oct. 18)," the MILF said Tuesday in a statement on its website.

“Uncoordinated movements of government in this case constituted a violation of the ceasefire accord between the two parties," it noted.

The MILF asserted that the army also launched “deliberate, indiscriminate artillery strike" from an outpost in Tipo-Tipo.

“This attack of the government forces blatantly violated the existing ceasefire accord between the Government of the Philippines and MILF, which only overstates the insincerity of the government and its armed forces with the ongoing peace process and ceasefire," the MILF also said.

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In Cotabato City, MILF spokesperson Von Al Haq said MILF rebels staged the series of ambush in Zamboanga Sibugay because the military has been pounding rebel positions in Payao town since Saturday.

“That’s the consequences of their action. It’s retaliation…part of war.  Soldiers have been indiscriminately pounding our position and civilian areas in Payao town,” he said by phone.

But Al Haq said the actions of the MILF forces in Alicia and Kabasalan, who were led by Alloy, a commander under the MILF’s 114th Base Command, was not coordinated with the rebel group’s central committee.

“The action of our men was not organizational. It means the order to attack did not came from the central committee. It’s their decision,” he said.

Al Haq said the MILF’s ceasefire committee has been working with its counterpart in the government to defuse the tension in the area.

On Tuesday, 19 soldiers were killed when they clashed with MILF rebels in Al Barka, Basilan while on a mission to get MILF commander Dan Laksaw Asnawi.
The military had said Asnawi is a fugitive.

Asnawi, who operates under the MILF’s 114th Base Command, was accused of involvement in the beheading and mutilation of Marine soldiers—also in Al Barka—in 2007.

He was subsequently arrested but managed to bolt out of the Basilan provincial jail, along with more than two dozen inmates, in December 2009.

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A source said Col. Antonio Parlade Jr. was ordered relieved after President Benigno Aquino III expressed his disgust over Parlade's pronouncements before the media last Thursday.

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"Col. Parlade was relieved. The President wanted him relieved. The President said that is the personal opinion of Col. Parlade because he is supposed to be a spokesman and he should go back to school... He said that if you are a spokesman you should not be saying those things," the source said.

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A second official confirmed the relief of Parlade, adding that Parlade's deputy, Maj. Harold Cabunoc, may be named acting Army spokesman.

Meanwhile, a report on GMA News' Saksi Friday evening said two Army official were ordered sacked due to the deadly Basilan clash – Col. Parlade and Col. Alex Macario, head of the Special Operations Task Force Basilan.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz confirmed Friday afternoon said: "I have ordered the relief of Col. Macario, who will be replaced by Col. Ramon Yogyog effective October 21, after further inquiry shows operational lapses on his part."

flipzi

Oct 22 2011, 10:47 AM

Let these men take the punishment constructively.

Never a personal attack from the higher ups .... but a REMINDER about their duties as leaders and public affairs officers.