MILF leaders still face arrest despite immunity guarantee
By ROMY ELUSFA
TODAY Correspondent
KIDAPAWAN CITY - While the government has agreed to guarantee the
“safety and immunity” of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leaders involved in
the resumed peace talks that was stalled by the recent war in Central Mindanao,
some 18 MILF leaders, who have existing warrants of arrest, can still be
arrested.
Some ranking MILF officials were slapped with warrants of arrest
after they were implicated in last month’s bombing at the
Secretary Jesus Dureza, the Presidential Assistant for Mindanao
who also serves as government chief negotiator, said, “The safety and immunity
guarantee is not new because it is incorporated in a previous agreement we
signed [with the MILF] and provides security to members of the peace panels.”
However, he said that “the cases against some MILF officials will
continue because these are judicial processes that will not be affected by the
negotiations. Judicial process is something that will have to take its own
normal course.”
MILF chief information officer Mohaqher Iqbal, wryly reacted,
saying that Dureza’s statement “showed the kind of sincerity the government has
in talking peace with us.”
The Abu Sayyaf bandit group has claimed responsibility over the
bombing at the
Iqbal said that the Arroyo administration, shortly after it was
catapulted to power, “already used the carrot and stick approach in dealing
with the MILF.”
He said, “But first, it set aside the stick and decided to
negotiate with us. After more than a year it set aside the carrot and launched
an all-out war against us. Now, it is simultaneously using the carrot and the
stick by negotiating while on the other hand, continuing to wage war against us
and filing ridiculous cases against some of our officials.”