The Philippine military coordinated with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ahead of a bloody encounter on January 22 that left four people dead, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. said.
During a press conference on Thursday in Basilan, Brawner stated that the deployment of soldiers to Sumisip town was properly coordinated with the MILF and other concerned stakeholders.
“Yes, we want to make it clear that there was coordination from the top to the lower units. The letter of the Joint Normalization Committee (JNC) was given to many addresses, CC-ing (carbon copy) different units. Not only on the government side, even the MILF side. So there was prior coordination.” Brawner said.
The JNC is a joint body composed of representatives from the government and the MILF, responsible for implementing normalization, the second phase of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro. This agreement is the culmination of years of intermittent peace negotiations between the government and the MILF.
Normalization complements the political track, which included the passage and ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, leading to the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Last Friday, Bangsamoro Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal and Butch Malang, chairperson of the MILF Coordinating Committees on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) said the encounter may have been caused by lack of coordination between the two sides. They stressed, however, that the information still needed to be verified.
Two soldiers were killed and 12 others were injured in the encounter in Sumisip when the 32nd Infantry Battalion was attacked by two armed groups, one of which was affiliated with the MILF.
The soldiers were on their way to provide security for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) personnel, who were on the field for a humanitarian project.
Two armed men were also reported killed in the clash. Brawner stressed that the movement of troops in the area did not require MILF coordination anyway.
“Second, sites referred to as ATS are nonexistent already. The MILF cannot say that we cannot enter these ATS without prior coordination,” the AFP chief said, referring to Areas of Temporary Stay.
Lieutenant General Antonio Nafarrete, head of the Western Mindanao Command, said the practice of observing the ATS (also referred to as Area of Temporary Homestay) was done “way back, many years back” but has already been rescinded.
Navarrete said the military’s information awareness efforts with stakeholders such as the MILF include disseminating that the ATS is no longer in effect even in other communities.
Brawner added, “So this wasn’t a law enforcement operation. We don’t need to seek permission. In fact, in the area, our soldiers move freely there.”
“So it was just really very unfortunate that these lawless elements started that firefight by ambushing our military vehicle,” he said.
Malang earlier stated that, upon verifying with their secretariat, they had not been informed about the operations.
The CCCH clarified that government security forces must notify the government of the Philippines through official letters or messages before entering MILF communities.
“The MILF-CCCH received no information that a group from the security sector was entering one area.”
Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. has called on the MILF to start a probe into the clash which is AFP committed.
