Sen. Biazon concludes: “Attack on marines in Basilan well planned”

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels carefully planned the attack Tuesday on government forces in island province of Basilan, where 14 marines were killed, most of them beheaded, and nine others wounded.

This was the conclusion made by Senator Rodolfo Biazon on Friday as he asked both the MILF and the Philippine government peace negotiators what could be the effect of the incident on the peace process.

“Based on my informal inquiry I can make a conclusion that the show was triggered, managed by the MILF,” Biazon told reporters in an interview at the Western Mindanao Command military headquarters here.

The Senator, a former Marine combat-officer himself, said he observes the MILF is not denying involvement in that incident and not even claiming the gunmen who clashed with the marines were lost command members.

“So meaning…they are admitting that what happened is a hard-bid, big involvement of the MILF,” said Biazon, who also chairs the Senate Defense Committee.

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, said the battle was a legitimate fight because their forces acted in self-defense against the marines, who were in a territory that belongs to the Bangsamoro Armed Forces.

Invoking an agreement whereby the government forces are supposed to coordinate the MILF of mass troop movements, Kabalu said the military did not tell them, which triggered the incident.

“We admit that our freedom fighters were responsible for the deaths of the marines, but we denied that they had beheaded them. It is against Islam. We do not mutilate the enemy," he said.

But Biazon brushed off Kabalu’s claim that the marines went astray into an MILF controlled territory, saying that the whole nor part of Basilan is not included in the list of recognized areas that are ally agreed upon by both parties under the peace process.

“Since Basilan is not included in this list, there was no need for the marines to coordinate with the MILF if they are performing a security operation. The marines’ main mission was only to verify the presence or absence of Fr. Giancarlo Bossi,” he stressed.

Bossi, 57, an Italian priest, kidnapped more than a month ago in the coastal village of Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay, was reportedly taken by his abductors somewhere in Basilan, a birthplace of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

The military has been searching for the Catholic missionary since his abduction on June 10. Its counterpart in the Ad Hoc Joint Group (AHJAG) of the MILF has given way Armed Forces the sole responsibility to search or rescue alone the priest.

With the incident, according to Biazon, it should now direct the policy makers in the country to re-examine the so-called peace process between the Philippine government and the MILF.

“I have no recommended specific actions to be taken, but I think we need to re-examine. Are we going to allow further the claims of the MILF that they control certain areas of this country without the mutual agreement of those people in authority?” he said.

The military have been given the go signal to hunt down and arrest those who killed and beheaded the soldiers in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan even as the International Monitoring Team (IMT) were on the ground in Basilan carrying out an investigation on the incident.

But Biazon commented that to effect the order of the commander-in-chief to hunt down the perpetrators of the killings and beheadings of marines, requires reinforcement to the forces that are presently based in Basilan.

“I will leave it to them. I understand there is a deployment of one marine battalion from Sulu. Definitely, this is a good move on the part of the commander-in-chief because we can’t allow our troops to be treated that way,” he added.

When asked to comment about IMT’s independent investigation on the incident, Biazon replied: “I think it is incumbent upon them to monitor everything related to the peace process and this incident is related with it. This may not be affecting the present day situation, but it can affect the future of the peace process which could affect the future of this country.”