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ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Armed Forces has given the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) until Sunday to
surrender its fighters involved in the killings of 14
Marines in Basilan early last week.
The
ultimatum was given by the Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom)
chief, Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo.
Gen.
Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Armed Forces chief of staff,
however immediately clarified that the military will not
immediately launch an all-out war should the rebels fail
to comply with the deadline.
Esperon
said that the Armed Forces has come up with 10 options
in getting the perpetrators of the killings and as far
as he is concerned “an all-out war is a last resort.”
Fourteen
Marines were killed while nine others were wounded in a
gun battle in Al-Barka town on July 10. Ten of those
killed were mutilated.
The
military said the gun battle broke out when the Marines
were ambushed by Abu Sayyaf bandits allegedly backed by
MILF rebels.
The
Marines were at the time returning to their base after
checking the reported presence of abducted Italian
priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi in the adjacent town of
Tipo-Tipo.
The MILF,
however, claimed that its forces clashed with the
Marines, who the front said entered an MILF area
“without coordination,” a violation of the government-MILF
cease-fire agreement.
Esperon
said that even the pending peace talks between the
government and MILF will not stop the military’s
“determination to punish the perpetrators of the brutal
killing of the Marines.”
“Punishing the perpetrators of the barbaric act may not
fall within the ambit of the peace process and so we
will exercise our options when there is a need to,”
Esperon told reporters here.
On
Thursday, Esperon met with top officials of the
Wesmincom. The meeting was part of his quarterly command
conference with the military’s field commanders.
The MILF
said it will defend itself in Basilan in the face of
impending major offensive by government forces as a
result of the beheading of 10 Marines in the encounter
in Ginanta, Al-Barka, Basilan.
Meanwhile, two officers of the Marines unit that figured
in a gun battle in Basilan on Tuesday last week have
been relieved to make them available at all times to
investigators.
The Navy
spokesman, LCdr. Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, said Lt. Col.
Felix Almadrones, commander of Marine Battalion Landing
Team-8 (MBLT-8), and his operations officer, Maj. Nestor
Marcelino, were relieved as the military investigates
into their possible operational lapses.
The
Marine Corps is under the Navy.
Bacordo
said Almadrones would be replaced by Lt. Col. Elmer
Estilles while Maj. Adolfo Avarate would take over
Marcelino’s post.
“There
has been no scheduled turnover yet as this would be
determined by Col. [Ramiro] Alivio,” Bacordo said.
Alivio
is the commander of the 1st Marine Brigade which
exercises supervision over the MBLT-8.
The
Malaysian government meanwhile has allowed the
Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) to
lead a fact-finding mission to investigate the clash
between the Marines and MILF forces last week.
The MILF
announced that its peace panel has received information
about the Malaysian government’s decision on Wednesday
afternoon.
“This is
a good development,” said Jun Mantawil, chairman of the
MILF’s peace panel secretariat. “The truth will come out
soon,” he added.
Mantawil
said the IMT-led investigation team would also determine
which party violated the cease-fire that led to the gun
battle on July 10 in barangay Ginanta in the newly
created town of
Al-Barka,
Basilan. (With R. Acosta) |
