GPH negotiatior asks MILF to help stop kidnappings in Basilan, other areas in Mindanao

Chief government negotiatior Miriam Coronel-Ferrer on Saturday asked the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to help prevent kidnappings in Basilan and other areas of Mindanao.

In a press statement, Coronel-Ferrer said there have been 23 kidnapping cases in Basilan, Sulu, Zamboanga, and Lanao, involving 30 victims.

"In the last three years, there were nearly 100 cases of abductions of children as young as a year old, students, businessmen, foreigners, journalists, senior citizens, barangay officials, and teachers. Many of these kidnap victims are still in captivity while some have been killed," she also said.

She added the military launched operations in Tipo-Tipo Basilan against the Abu Sayyaf Group earlier this month over the abduction of a 21-year-old female in Zamboanga City.

Citing Armed Forces of the Philippines reports, Coronel-Ferrer said nine ASG members were killed in the operation, including a certain Nur Espital, who is supposedly affiliated with the MILF. Three other alleged members were wounded in the operation, she said.

"As an organization that signed the peace agreement, the MILF must not tolerate the criminal acts of any of their individual members" Coronel-Ferrer said, adding the MILF "must do their part in arresting the impunity long enjoyed by these unscrupulous individuals."

She said the MILF should ask its supporters to choose between war and peace and "expel from their ranks those who reject peace and are directly or indirectly abetting the hostage-taking and preventing development to set in."

She added the peace process cannot be used to keep criminals from being held accountable before the law.

According to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, representatives of the government and the MILF are expected to meet during the Lenten holiday to coordinate on dealing with criminals in Basilan and in other parts of Mindanao.

"We expect both parties to renew their commitment and to come up with concrete operational guidelines that would allow them to effectively work together in securing the people’s safety and well-being in Basilan and elsewhere in Mindanao," she said.

The government and the MILF signed a historic peace agreement in late March that has helped pave the way for the creation of a Bangsamoro political identity—an autonomous area meant to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao—and an end to conflict in the southern Philippines. — JDS, GMA News