DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 26 April) — The Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday urged police officers to coordinate with the ceasefire mechanisms when they conduct law enforcement operations in conflict-affected areas in the Bangsamoro, to ensure the primacy of the peace process is upheld and in the words of GPH Peace Implementing Panel chair Irene Santiago, to avoid a “micro or macro Mamasapano.”
(L to R) Director Carlos Sol of the Combined Secretariat for the GPH CCCH and AHJAG. Police Director, DIPO for Western Mindanao, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, Irene Santiago, Chair of the Government Implementing Panel for the GPH-MILF Peace Accord and Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr., Commander of the Western Mindanao Command at the Forum on GPH-MILF Peace Process held at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao City on 26 April 2017. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
At the Forum on the GPH-MILF Peace Process, Secretary Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, urged the audience of top police officials from the conflict areas in the Bangsamoro and neighboring regions to always remember “the bigger goal” which is to “build peace in the land.”
“Yes we have operational targets, but hopefully we don’t run roughshod over the gains we have already achieved in the peace process,” he said.
“Consult, consult, seek advice, seek advice. In case of doubt, you ask questions, ayos?,” Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said, as he assured them it does not matter if coordination will affect the success of the law enforcement operations (LEO) “basta importante hindi tayo masisi sa bandang huli” (what is important is that we will not be blamed in the end).
“Consult, consult, seek advice, seek advice, In case of doubt, you ask questions,” Director-General Roland “Bato” dela Rosa told police officials at the Forum on GPH-MILF Peace Process” on April 26, 2017 at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao City. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
“Ibalik natin yung pagsasangguni, pag coordinate. Yun ang pinakaimportante. (Let’s bring back consultation, coordination. That is the most important). Coordination. Coordinate, coordinate, coordinate. Bahala nang makakaapekto yan sa success ng ating operation basta importante hindi tayo masisisi sa bandang huli di ba?” (Never mind if that will affect the success of our operations. What is important is we won’t be blamed in the end), he said.
Dureza said the forum, initiated by the PNP and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) was proposed by Santiago “to re-emphasize that as we engage the bad guys on the ground, there is a bigger higher consideration which is seeing to it that our engagement with those on the ground especially in the community level is the one given importance and priority.”
Lessons from Mamasapano
Santiago proposed the Forum following the April 11LEO in Sultan Kudarat Maguindanao that resulted to the killing of Mohaimen Abo alias Boy Bangsamoro, brother of Ghazali Jaafar, 1st Vice Chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), concurrent chair of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, the 21-member joint government and MILF body tasked to drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
“I wanted an institutional response so that we don’t have a micro or macro Mamasapano again,” Santiago told MindaNews.
Peace talk, not face off. PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa and Irene Santiago, chair of the government’s Peace Implementing Panel in the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front at the Forum on GPH-MILF peace process on April 26, 2017 at the Watefront Insular Hotel. Santiago proposed the holding of a forum to avoid a “micro or macro Mamasapano.” MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
A major lesson in non-coordination was the Mamasapano Tragedy of January 25, 2015 when the PNP’s Special Action Forces (SAF) conducted a LEO in Mamasapano without coordinating with the ceasefire mechanisms or the Army in the area and left 66 persons dead, 44 of them from the SAF, 17 from the MILF and five civilians.
Santiago told MindaNews she met with dela Rosa and his staff as well as OIC Local Governments Secretary Catalino Cuy in dela Rosa’s office on April 20 to reiterate the need for an institutional response. At the end of the meeting, the they agreed to hold the forum to orient, re-orient the police on the peace process mechanisms.
Jaafar expressed dismay on the police action that killed his youngest brother, whom he described as a bona fide member of the MILF’s armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF).
Operatives from the national and regional police went to the house of Abo, also known as Boy Bangsamoro, to serve warrants of arrest against him for murder, robbery, frustrated murder, kidnapping for ransom and kidnapping with homicide but Abo reportedly fired at the operatives.
“You know, if the government has pending case and would want to conduct law enforcement operation, there is a ceasefire mechanism that works for it, which government and MILF have agreed upon,” Jaafar said.
No coordination was made by the operating units with the ceasefire mechanisms of the government and MILF: the Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG).[]
“The MILF is questioning the neutralization of that suspect,” Dela Rosa said, referring to Jaafar’s brother. “Kahit na sabihin mong 1,000 yung kanyang warrant of arrest, kahit na gaano kadami pang kaso nya, but still the other side is claiming that we have violated some provisions of the peace process, then merong disconnect sa ating efforts towards achieving peace,” he added.[]
