Ceasefire violated, Magalso says

IPIL, Zamboanga Sibugay --- Army Brigadier General Jovencio Magalso of 102 Infantry Brigade based here said a “written complaint will be filed before the Committee on Ceasefire and Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH)” for the violation of the ceasefire agreement against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

In a text message, Magalso said “a group identified with the MILF occupied an abandoned school house near their satellite camp” in Barangay Lakiki, Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte.

Sibuco town is one of the 13 towns of the 3rd Congressional District of Zamboanga del Norte under the jurisdiction of 102IB.

Police and military officials last week reported that a group of MILF rebels occupied a village of Lakiki in Sibuco town.

Army Colonel William Abao said the group, numbering about 17, occupied the abandoned school house at around 9 o’clock in the evening of January 9 but left the following morning.

Abao, the commanding officer of the 44th Infantry Battalion, described the situation after the incident as “normal and under control”.

They left peacefully after the village officials protested their presence, Abao said in a text message.

“Still, we view the act as a violation of the existing ceasefire agreement between the government and the rebel group,” Magalso asserted, adding that “we are bringing the incident to the attention of the CCCH”.

The ceasefire committees of the government and MILF panels are the ones overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

When asked if the same incident will have spill-over effect in neighboring areas like Zamboanga Sibugay, Magalso said: “Definitely not. That’s why we were telling the group that time to leave the area in order not to create fear and undue panic among the residents”.

Earlier, Magalso, who was one of the four senior military officers under the Western Mindanao Command promoted to one rank higher effective January 1, dismissed the incident as “mere show of force”.

“It is more about massing up of forces but there is nothing to fear because if they wanted something bad, these people will not be going to mass in an open area,” he said.

Magalso said the military could not move against the rebels because they were not threatening the safety of the civilians.

“What we can do is to file a written complaint before the proper body,” he said, referring to government-MILF ceasefire committees.

The peace talks between the government and the MILF was stalled again last month over the sensitive issue of territory.

The MILF accused Manila of reneging to its commitment after peace talks was stalled last month in Malaysia, which is brokering the negotiations.

Mohagher Iqbal, chief MILF peace negotiator, said the government panel earlier agreed on the scope of the Muslim ancestral domain, but reneged on the accord that will constitute a separate homeland for about 4 million Muslims and indigenous tribes in Mindanao.

The MILF said government negotiators headed by General Rodolfo Garcia completely disregarded the agreement on the ancestral domain and insisted again that the granting of homeland to Muslims in Mindanao would solely be through Constitutional process which the rebel group previously opposed.

“This stance of the GRP peace panel has virtually jeopardized the integrity of the peace process and to continue with the talks would virtually turn it into a circus,” Iqbal said.
Iqbal said government leaders opposed to the peace talks should be blamed for the break down in the negotiations.

The Sibuco incident is most likely to happen in situations where the peace talks failed, an MILF ranking official of Zamboanga Sibugay said in a text message.

“At the moment, the peace talk is stalled and its resumption is not yet certain so it is very normal that things like these will happen,” the MILF official, who asked not to be named because he is not in the position to talk to the media, ended.#