Of ceasefires and civilians

Of ceasefires and civilians


Posted 00:32am (Mla time) Feb 04, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the February 4, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


"BOMBS, bullets rain down on suspected Abu, JI meet," went the headline of a story on this paper's "Second Front Page" exactly a week ago.

The news report detailed the operations of a military air strike on a group of houses in a "forested marshy area on the outskirts of Datu Piang and Saudi Ampatuan towns," in Maguindanao allegedly to break up a meeting between leaders of the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah with members of what the military described as "renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)."

The MILF members, military authorities said, had broken a ceasefire with the government last Jan. 10 when they overran a military outpost, leaving 21 soldiers and rebels dead.

Acting on intelligence reports that senior leaders of the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah officials, including a certain Dulmatin who is being linked to the Bali bombing, were meeting in the area, Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza, chief of the Southern Command, ordered the air attacks last Jan. 27, employing helicopter gunships and attack planes, backed by artillery.

Last Feb. 1, Col. Jerry Jalandoni of the Army's 604th Infantry Brigade in Maguindanao, interviewed by Cotabato City TV stations, threatened a "major military offensive" against the same forces unless they surrendered by Feb. 12.

Even as the ongoing operations seem to have failed in dislodging the Islamists allegedly entrenched in the Butilen Marsh, the air and ground assaults have displaced residents of eight “barangay” [villages] in Datu Piang, Guindulungan, Talitay and Mamasapano, and wounded civilians "caught in the open during the assault."

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IN THE WAKE of the escalation of military action and the displacement of and harm to civilians in Central Midnanao, Bantay Ceasefire, a coalition of nongovernmental groups monitoring compliance with the ceasefire agreement between the government and the MILF, has called for a pause in the military assaults. "The ongoing military operations in Maguindanao ... is threatening the ceasefire between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front," Bantay Ceasefire notes. "But more important, civilians are uninformed and unprotected in the government assaults."

In a statement, the coalition reminds military authorities in the area of the March 13, 2003 memorandum issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to then Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, where she "enumerated several points that AFP field commanders should consider whenever they make tactical decisions and conduct military operations." The President's order was issued soon after the Armed Forces’ assault on Buliok, which displaced up to 300,000 civilians and resulted in a humanitarian disaster.

"The most relevant points in the memorandum relate to the safety and protection of civilians," points out Bantay Ceasefire. Among these factors to be borne in mind are:

• The least possible impact of such operations on the larger community of non-combatants, especially on their livelihood and normal conduct of everyday life;

• Minimum evacuation from homes and/or areas of food production;

• Close coordination with pertinent agencies of government within his or her area of responsibility when socio-economic dislocations are expected or become imminent as a result of such operations.

"The civilian displacements, property damage and even wounded civilians -- documented by a Jan. 28 Bantay Ceasefire fact-finding mission -- attest to the fact that the memorandum is not being followed in the Maguindanao attacks. Uninformed civilians were in their homes or farms doing daily tasks when the attacks commenced," the statement continued.

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BANTAY Ceasefire appeals to the Armed Forces "to strictly follow the guidelines (set) by their Commander in Chief meant to (reduce) the impact of military operations on civilians." The group likewise considers the fighting in Maguindanao "exceedingly alarming" and calls on both the Armed Forces and the MILF to "strictly observe and implement the ceasefire mechanisms in settling disputes and complaints for any violation of the ceasefire."

The group reminds the contending forces that both government and MILF peace panels "had already agreed during its Dec. 21, 2004 exploratory meeting in Kuala Lumpur to operationalize an Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) in the isolation and interdiction of criminal and lawless elements operating in, or near, MILF communities and areas."

If the military is to follow these guidelines, Bantay Ceasefire says, government troops should "refrain from taking unilateral action in pursuing alleged members of terror groups in or near MILF communities and areas to avoid unnecessary armed confrontation with the MILF."

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AT THE SAME time, Bantay Ceasefire calls on the MILF leadership to "immediately investigate and take appropriate disciplinary action" against MILF members who reportedly attacked the military detachment in Maguindanao last Jan. 10, an act that the group also deemed as an "open and clear violation of the ceasefire agreement."

"While soldiers on both sides are trained for war, civilians are not," the statement reminds the leaders on both sides of the conflict. "There are already legal instruments, including United Nations declarations, on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts. Let us remember in whose name this war is being waged and protect the civilians."

Having just come from a visit to Maguindanao the other week, I am disheartened by the news of escalated military action in the area that threatens the fragile ceasefire won through painful negotiations. From this distance, all I can do is pray for my friends, and lend whatever space I can to the voices of all those desiring peace, especially for the civilians caught in the crossfire.