Senate to resume BBL inquiry, presses Iqbal on aliases

A cloud of doubt now hovers over the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as the Senate committee on local government resumes its review of the proposed measure, two months after hearings were suspended to give way to the inquiry into the Mamasapano incident.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., chairman of the local government committee, said violations of the peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) may derail the passage of the BBL.

“If it becomes clear that the ceasefire agreement was not followed, the BBL cannot proceed. It is that

simple. The BBL is based on the ceasefire agreement. If the ceasefire agreement was not followed, the BBL would not have significance,” Marcos said in Filipino during a radio interview.

MILF negotiator Mohaguer Iqbal will also be asked why he has not been forthright in dealing with the government and the Filipino people on his real identity and true name when he signed the peace agreement, according to Marcos.

The BBL is the product of the peace talks between the government and the MILF. When passed into law, the measure will be the legal basis for the creation of an autonomous Bangsamoro entity in Mindanao.

However, the MILF and its breakaway faction Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters ( BIFF) figured in a gunbattle with the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force ( PNP- SAF) while the police commandos were on a mission to go after international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, in Mamasapano town last Jan. 25.

Forty-four policemen died in the encounter, which happened amid an ongoing peace process.

Marcos said the massive call for peace cannot justify the death of 44 SAF commandos, and his panel will now deal with concerns on how the ceasefire mechanisms between the government and the MILF can be enhanced to prevent a repeat of the Mamasapano clash.

He also seeks to tie some loose ends on the varied results of the separate investigations of the Senate, PNP Board of Inquiry (BOI), the MILF, and the International Monitoring Team on the Mamasapano incident.

Both the PNP and the Senate reports tagged President Aquino as liable for giving the go- signal for the execution of the police operation in Mamasapano and allowing then suspended PNP chief director general Alan Purisima to supervise the operations. Purisima resigned in the middle of the investigation.

The Senate joint committee chaired by Sen. Grace Poe has classified as murder the killing of 44 SAF men.

But the MILF claimed it was selfdefense and justified because the SAF were perceived as intruders since the MILF did not know they were government troops due to the lack of coordination on the part of the SAF.

Marcos cannot accept the MILF’s reason.

“You cannot justify 44 dead… If that is the attitude of the MILF, it is really hard to achieve peace,” he said.

Marcos also wants the MILF and the government peace panel representatives to explain what the MILF intends to do during the process of decommissioning of firearms.

The MILF leadership should also explain their side about reports that it has intensified its build- up of firearms in a number of the MILFcontrolled areas even while the group has signed the peace agreement with the government.

‘DOJ’s report will help BBL approval’ Meanwhile, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the House of Representatives ad hoc panel on the BBL, believes that the report of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the Mamasapano carnage will greatly help in the approval of the proposed measure.

“We are awaiting the DOJ report, which will be released on Thursday. Hopefully, it will identify some or most of the killers of the 44 SAF commandos,” he said.

The House ad hoc committee on the BBL also suspended its work on the proposed legislation indefinitely shortly after the Mamasapano carnage.

Rodriguez said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has promised that her department, together with the National Bureau of Investigation, would file criminal charges for violation of humanitarian laws against the killers and their commanders.

“Once members of Congress and our people see that the wheels of justice are turning, that will hopefully lessen opposition to the BBL. It’s justice for the fallen SAF 44 that they have been crying for,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez also said MILF’s claim of self- defense “is ridiculous and unacceptable.”

“Granting that it was indeed a ‘ mis- encounter’ or an encounter, then it should not have lasted for eight hours, starting before 6 a.m. up to 2 p.m. After the first few hours of gun battle, the MILF should have stopped firing at our policemen, who were really encircled, massacred and murdered,” he pointed out.

‘Iqbal should explain

use of aliases’

Iqbal admitted in a House hearing last week that he has been using an alias but refused to reveal his real name, citing “sensitiveness.” He offered to ask the Department of Foreign Affairs to provide lawmakers information about his passport.

The Senate wants to study the implications of Iqbal’s use of alias, especially once the Bangsamoro Transition Commission starts dispensing its budget as part of the peace agreement.

“This is the first time that I saw a peace agreement signed with an alias,” Marcos said in Filipino.

The MILF scored lawmakers whom the group said are making an issue out of Iqbal’s use of aliases.

“It is a pity that many of what appeared to be good people in this country including some so- called honorable members of the legislature are acting like small children by choosing to pick up on small and fleeting issues rather than those that make this country a better place to live in,” the MILF said in a editorial posted on its website luwaran.net.

“Often, they make a mountain out of a molehill. What if a member of the MILF, which is a revolutionary organization, uses a nom de guerre, in signing documents with the Philippine government? Is that a big fuss that can cause so much hitch in the minds of so many people especially lawmakers who are supposed to be serious and responsible?” it added.

MILF went on to lament the supposed passing of what it described as the “great minds of the Senate” like Arturo Tolentino, Jovito Salonga, Teofisto Guingona, and Claro Recto.

“More disgusting is that in the Senate today there are two senators who are brothers and another two a brother and sister, and they are coming from Metropolitan Manila.”

MILF was apparently referring to Senators Jinggoy Estrada and JV Ejercito, sons of former President Joseph Estrada, who declared an all-out war against the group, and Senators Pia and Alan Peter Cayetano, an outspoken critic of the Moro rebels.

MILF also cited former President Ferdinand Marcos’ use of “Maharlika” as assumed name during his alleged guerrilla life in World War II.

“What can this gossiping bring to this country, nothing except intrigues and ill-feelings! If this is the gauge in evaluating the quality of contemporary Filipino leaders, then the result is not outstanding,” MILF said.

Sen. Marcos rejected claims that the use of aliases is just a side issue. He said that more than anything else, the matter put into question the good faith of the MILF as the government’s partner for peace.

“It is like you lied to us, to the Philippine government,” Marcos said. “Why do you have to do that?”