Tell That to the Marines

No matter how successful the government may be in conjuring a picture of improved peace and order conditions in Mindanao, the truth is bound to emerge sooner or later, as in the latest Basilan incident.

BY CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO
Streetwise/Business World
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 27, August 12-18, 2007

No matter how successful the government may be in conjuring a picture of improved peace and order conditions in Mindanao, the truth is bound to emerge sooner or later, as in the latest Basilan incident.

Is the ceasefire with the Moro Islamic Liberation Movement (MILF) holding or is government poised to go on an all-out offensive against it for the debacle suffered by the Philippine Marines last July 10 in an 8-hour gun battle with the Moro rebels? Is the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) to blame for the beheading of the dead Marines and is the government merely undertaking necessary police action to arrest 130 suspects it has identified?

First of all, what really happened? The MILF has been consistent in its version: the Marines entered an MILF-controlled territory in Tipo-tipo, Basilan. Failing to coordinate with them in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, the AFP wittingly or unwittingly provoked an armed attack by MILF forces. The Moro rebel group quickly owned up to the killing of 23 Marines and to suffering four fatalities on its side. They denied that their forces mutilated the corpses of ten of the 14 men that the AFP acknowledged to have
been killed in action.

The MILF called for an investigation of the incident under the auspices of the joint GRP-MILF Coordinating Committee for the Cessation of Hostilities and by international human rights organizations. Nonetheless, they refused to surrender their members whom the government claimed were the perpetrators
despite several ultimatums including the supposed “D-day” last July 31 for the planned AFP assault against them.

The military top brass insists the soldiers were attacked by the MILF treacherously and without provocation. The official claim is that, if at all, the Marines’ only sin was failure to coordinate their entry into MILF territory (the AFP initially denied that Tipo-tipo was MILF territory) while on a mission to find and rescue the kidnapped Italian priest, Fr. Giancarlo Bossi. Malacanang says the MILF could have complained of the incursion under existing mechanisms in order to avert a clash but instead it staged the ambush on the hapless Marines in gross violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Whatever triggered the Basilan encounter and no matter how hard the government tries to withhold and conceal critical facts and circumstances, certain undeniable truths emerge.

Truth #1: The ASG is far from eradicated, five years after Balikatan 02-1, the landmark RP-U.S. military exercise held under the Visiting Forces Agreement that involved anywhere from 1,650 to 2,665 U.S. troops, 150 of them Special Forces, and 3,800 Filipino soldiers. Then Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes stated that the purpose of the operation was to eliminate the Abu Sayyaf and free a Filipino nurse and an American missionary couple taken hostage in May 2001.

There was a huge controversy over the entry and presence of U.S. forces in combat zones in Basilan or anywhere in Philippine territory even for military exercises. An International Solidarity Mission subsequently unearthed evidence that U.S. troops were in fact involved in combat operations while
purportedly training Philippine troops for counter-terrorist operations. Objections from many quarters, including the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, were overcome by public clamor to wipe out the ASG, a job the AFP appeared incapable of doing on its own.

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