The Inquirer has long supported the search for a negotiated peace as a lasting solution to the Moro insurgency. But our support is based on the assumption that the process of negotiation meets the standards of a constitutional democracy, and that any peace agreement will enjoy public backing. Our vigorous objection to the proposed Memorandum of Agreement on ancestral domain, which was scheduled for signing in Kuala Lumpur and then declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court a year ago this month, was based on both process and content issues: We thought the lack of consultation was fatal, and we believed that the ill-advised tack of including crucial concessions within the body of the MOA as though they were already political fact was both outrageous and illegal.

We have also, through many years, consistently advocated the policy of distinction: The government must distinguish between the bandit gang of the Abu Sayyaf and the legitimate Moro Islamic Liberation Front. With the former, there can be no negotiation; the Abu Sayyaf are criminals, plain and simple. With the MILF, however, we must talk peace.

We were aware, of course, that sometimes the walls that appear to separate Abu Sayyaf bandit from MILF rebel are porous indeed. We were also aware of the infamous ?lost commands,? armed units under only nominal control by the MILF. But we have always believed in the capacity of the MILF to put a peace agreement, if the negotiations prove successful, to complete effect.

Until, that is, last year. When the signing of the MOA was stopped, key units of the MILF went on a rampage. In part, this was an understandable if unfortunate reaction; in a large organization like the MILF (or the Philippine government, for that matter), there will be marked variety in the level of support for peace talks. Those most opposed to negotiations will use any excuse to push the peace table just a little farther away. But the rash action of MILF Commanders Umbra Kato and Bravo did not only reveal the cracks in the MILF chain of command; it also put in serious doubt the MILF?s capacity to enforce any peace agreement.

This growing skepticism, shared by many Filipinos, even by those desirous of peace and protective of the peace process, was deepened last Wednesday, when MILF regulars ambushed the 67th Marine Raider Company in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan, on its way to reinforce government troops fighting the Abu Sayyaf.

The military action was launched early in the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 12, in a casualty-heavy but ultimately successful campaign to capture the Abu Sayyaf?s largest camp. But because it involved moving through an area that the AFP, out of necessity, considers MILF-controlled territory, the AFP made ?prior coordination? with the MILF.

This, we have strong reason to believe, explains why the Abu Sayyaf manning the camp seemed to the surviving soldiers to have been lying in wait for them during the first of what became seven armed encounters that day, and why the Marine reinforcements were ambushed by the MILF. Even the usually voluble MILF spokesman, Eid Kabalu, was reduced to stating the obvious. He claimed that the Marines had entered MILF territory?a fact already admitted by the AFP, and which necessitated the military?s pride-swallowing act of informing the MILF beforehand. ?We sought the help of the MILF,? said the chief of the Western Mindanao Command, Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino.

Soldiers who survived the fiercest gunbattles in years recalled that the number of the Abu Sayyaf seemed to swell the longer the day went on: ?At first they seemed like they were about 50. But before nightfall, they had grown to about 200,? one of the survivors said.

We have reason to believe that the Abu Sayyaf?s reinforcements did not consist only of the bandits? relatives and neighbors coming to their rescue, but also of MILF regulars?some of whom, indeed, may have been relatives or neighbors of the bandits themselves. Dolorfino explained why at least 10 MILF men (as confirmed by Kabalu too) had been slain: ?There is no such thing as part-time [Abu Sayyaf,] part-time MILF.?

Dolorfino did not say those words as an act of bravado (after all, 18 of the 23 soldiers killed that day fell during the treacherous MILF ambush). We see them, in fact, as a direct question to the MILF: If you want peace, why didn?t you prevent the ambush?