DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/20 Aug) – “Peaceful arrangements are being pursued to preserve the gains of the peace process even as the government forces run after the suspected terrorist groups in Sulu,” Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said.
Dureza said the ceasefire committees of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have made arrangements for MILF forces, which are allegedly in the vicinity of military operations against terrorist groups, to move to an area of temporary stay to prevent an AFP-MILF confrontation.
The MILF presence, however, is minimal in Sulu than in Basilan. In Basilan on Augsut 18, some 100 MILF guerrillas moved away from their camp to give way to the Marines’ offensive against the Abu Sayyaf.
Von Al Haq, head of the MILF Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), said the MILF fighters decided to leave their camp in Barangay Bagindan, Unkaya Pukan town "to stay clear" from the government offensive against the Abu Sayyaf.
He said the decision to leave came when mortar and 105mm artillery shells landed 50 meters from the MILF camp in Barangay Bagindan this morning. "It was so close. I immediately called up our counterparts from the government about our situation and they readily agreed to allow our forces to move," he said.
Al Haq’s counterpart, Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea, chair of the government peace panel’s CCCH, told MindaNews the Marines “readily accepted the MILF request to pull out because the MILF camp in Barangay Bagindan is really close to Sitio Kurellem,” site of the alleged Abu Sayyaf camp the Marines raided this morning.
Dureza, who just arrived from a meeting in Colombia, clarified that pursuit against terrorist groups are “outside the ambit of the peace process.”
“We are in fact witnessing the mechanism of peace process working effectively on the ground now the AFP and MILF avoiding a head on collision,” Dureza said.
Dureza added that President Arroyo, who met with ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatudan, gave instructions for the “progression of humanitarian interventions in the area.”
The Department of Social Welfare and Development, which placed the number of affected families at around 1,800 (or 10,000 individuals), is taking the lead in efforts to address the humanitarian needs of affected families.
On August 13, exactly a week ago, President Arroyo told the 16th annual general assembly of the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) in Makati City that she issued three security directives to address the current hostilities in Mindanao.
“First, keep Basilan and Sulu operations firmly in control to minimize civilian casualties with the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) help in evacuating them and respect ceasefire guidelines in close consultation with the International Monitoring Team whose mandate we should seek to be extended for it expires next month,” she said.
The second presidential directive is to “hold urgent talks with the MILF under the Malaysian auspices to contain and resolve the Basilan-Sulu situation.”
“Make it clear that the government has to secure its forces and areas as part of peace effort and law enforcement but will not overrun MILF areas,” she said.
Thirdly, she directed those concerned to “brief the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference) Committee of the Eight, on Mindanao development underlining both the limited military operations and a continuing peace and development efforts including huge outlays in the 2007 and 2008 budget for Mindanao including Basilan and Sulu.”
Last month, long-delayed Tripartite Conference among the OIC, Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was reset to “end of August,” according to Dureza, because Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda could not make it to the third week of July schedule.
Dureza’s press statement today did not mention anything about the Tripartite Conference, or about the MNLF. (MindaNews)
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 August 2007 13 30 15 )From MindaNews Files
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