It does not matter that the two rogue field commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) now being pursued by the military do not recognize the authority of the government. It does not matter that the MILF refuses to “recognize” the Constitution, and believes that the continuing political wrangling over the controversial Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain is entirely “internal” to the government. The government has both the right and the responsibility to enforce the law within Philippine boundaries. That means those MILF rebels who launched armed offensives in the provinces of North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte last week are fully within the ambit of the government’s authority.
Why do we belabor the obvious? Because of the pernicious idea that rebels like Ameril Ombra Kato and Abdulla Macapaar, better known as Commander Bravo, are actually outside the law. They aren’t, in the exact same way that an Indonesian bomb-maker for the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network training recruits in Mindanao is not outside the law. In both cases, Philippine laws have been violated; in both cases, Philippine law enforcement agents and security forces have the duty to bring the lawbreakers to justice.
Kato and his men rampaged through North Cotabato, after government peace negotiators heeded the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court and declined to sign the controversial MOA. We do not know whether the renewed violence was a deliberate strategy on the part of the MILF, to press the case for the advantages of signing the MOA (and eventually a peace pact), or whether it was a spontaneous reaction to adverse news by a restive MILF unit, and therefore unreflective of the MILF as a whole. At this point, it doesn’t matter. Kato and his men broke Philippine laws in launching their offensive; they must be haled before a Philippine court.
Bravo and his men launched similar attacks in the Lanao del Norte towns of Kauswagan and Kolambugan, leaving scores dead, many of them women and children used as human shields. Again, we do not know whether these attacks were borne out of strategy or desperation (although, to be sure, the attacks seemed to be, if not synchronized, at least coordinated). But Bravo and his men broke Philippine laws in attacking Lanao del Norte; they too must be haled before a Philippine court.
The government has offered a P5-million bounty for the capture of each rogue commander, and the Armed Forces’ 6th Infantry Division thinks Kato himself has been wounded in the military counter-attack. The division’s spokesman, Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, points to the attempted abduction of a Cotabato City doctor last week as an indication that Kato was injured. “Usually in fighting, if a ranking rebel leader or commander [gets] hurt, they are going to kidnap physicians,” Ando said. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu was dismissive of the news. “The kidnapping angle is another [piece of] black propaganda,” he said.
The charge of kidnapping may still have to be proven, but no one denies that MILF units launched armed offensives last week, attacking civilian centers. Not even the MILF leadership can deny that. It cannot appeal to Malaysia, the United States or other friendly countries supportive of the peace process to stop Philippine authorities from pursuing Kato and Bravo; even these allies know the armed actions not only broke the ceasefire in place but violated both national and international laws.
It would be too much to expect the MILF to turn over its rogue commanders to government authorities (indeed, its capacity to do so is crucial to the very possibility of successful peace negotiations). But going by its own logic, the MILF cannot expect the Philippine government to stop its pursuit of the rebels who shattered the peace. It is a matter entirely, completely “internal” to the government.
Copyright 2009 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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