THE National Security Council (NSC) on Tuesday agreed to support the continued military offensive against bandits in Basilan and Sulu while upholding the primacy of the peace process, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said on Tuesday.

“The consensus is to continue the offensive,” Teodoro told Malacañang reporters after the two-hour “full meeting” of the NSC in Malacañang.

In her opening statement, the President said she convened the full meeting of the NSC to brief government leaders—from the Senate, the House of Representatives and concerned local executives—on the situation in Sulu and Basilan, “and to consult them on our unrelenting efforts to forge lasting peace with justice, harmony and security for all Mindanaoans and the rest of the Filipino nation.”

“These efforts shall include protection of civilians in battle zones, strict adherence to cease-fire parameters, harnessing of all sectors and international support for peace and development initiatives, and fast-tracking of projects and programs for infrastructure, health, housing, livelihood, farming and fisheries upgrading, and Muslim education and culture in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao,” Arroyo said.

She stressed the importance of coordinated action “without selfish politicking to preserve the peace we have achieved so far and to advance it toward a final agreement and the massive development that will follow.”

Teodoro said that the government would send more troops into the concerned areas “as the need arises,” and that the US government has been “assisting in intelligence exchange and humanitarian assistance.”

Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Armed Forces chief of staff, said that so far, four Marine batallions, three infrantry batallions, one component each from the Special Forces and the Scout Rangers, a Light Reaction battalion, and Navy and Air Force components have been sent to the two provinces.

“What we can say is we have stabilized the situation, but it is critical. We still have our contingency plans, including the deployment of troops or battalions from Luzon and the Visayas to Mindanao, but for now, we believe we have sufficient forces in the two provinces,” Esperon said.

Teodoro also said the military offensives against the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf in Basilan and Sulu are carefully controlled to avoid collateral damage.

Teodoro said the government is taking care of noncombatants while coordination is being made to preserve the peace pact with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the ongoing talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Teodoro said the offensives in Basilan and Sulu will continue until the remaining leaders and members of the bandit group have been eliminated.

Earlier, presidential adviser on the peace process Jesus Dureza said that members of the MNLF and MILF who are fighting alongside the Abu Sayyaf against government troops are treated individually as subjects in the ongoing offensive, and not as organizational targets.

Teodoro said rebels who join the Abu Sayyaf in fighting soldiers will be identified through the military’s continuous coordination with the MNLF and MILF hierarchies.

Military authorities claimed that some MILF fighters joined the Abu Sayyaf in the July 10 ambush in Basilan, while rogue MNLF members allegedly helped the bandit group in last week’s ambush in Sulu.

Meanwhile, the government-MILF joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and the Basilan provincial government have agreed to set up two interim mechanisms to prevent further clashes between military and rebel forces in the island province.

As a first step, they agreed to establish a mobile Joint Monitoring and Assistance Team (JMAT) in Basilan composed of two representatives each from the military, the police, MILF, local governments, Bantay Cease-fire and other civil society organizations.

The repositioning of MILF forces to the Area of Temporary Stay is the second interim mechanism agreed upon by the GRP-MILF CCCH and the provincial government of Basilan.

The MILF said the primary task of the JMAT is to prevent further clashes between the military and MILF forces through round-the-clock monitoring and containment of the situation and movements which can trigger misencounters between the two forces.

The establishment of the mobile Jmat was one of the recommendations submitted by the government-MILF CCCH and Bantay Cease-fire Joint Independent Fact-finding Committee, which investigated the almost 10-hour fierce encounter last month between the MILF and government forces in barangay Ginanta, Al Barka, Basilan.  (With B. Garcia Jr.)

THE National Security Council (NSC) on Tuesday agreed to support the continued military offensive against bandits in Basilan and Sulu while upholding the primacy of the peace process, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said on Tuesday.

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