War crimes

I have been campaigning for sobriety and for the peace talks to continue ever since the calls for retribution and an all out war against the Moro rebels started rising in the aftermath of the Mamasapano massacre where 44 members of the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force lost their lives. Recent developments, however,  have made sticking to such an unpopular stand even more difficult.

One such development is the execution video that has gone viral. In the video, you can see a war crime being committed when a wounded SAF officer is executed by a Moro rebel as his companion takes a video for posterity. To make matters worse, the video was uploaded on social media for everyone to see.

That video makes it very difficult to defend the ongoing peace process between the Philippine government and its chosen partner, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

First of all, the bloody encounter and the succeeding video was taken in an area controlled by the MILF. Granted that the SAF troopers were “trespassing” and the rebel forces were merely responding to a what they could have thought was a surprise attack, how can our government negotiate peace with a group that not only coddles an international terrorist, it condones war crimes as well?

The excuse that they needed a half-day gun battle to defend their territory already needs a very flexible imagination to be believable. I know they’ve been at war for decades and the ceasefire must have made some trigger fingers very itchy, but the Mamasapano massacre showed us what kind of people the MILF are speaking for and while it emphasizes the need for lasting peace in Mindanao, it also raises tough questions on the ability of the MILF leadership to deliver their end of the bargain when it comes to that kind of peace.

This much is clear as far the MILF is concerned: their members are trigger happy, international terrorists have found refuge in the areas they control, and they are also in bed with the BIFF terrorists. The first two facts have already been established when the fighting erupted after the SAF penetrated their area to arrest Marwan. The second fact also came straight from the horse’s mouth, when the MILF tried to deflect blame by saying they can’t be entirely responsible for so much death because BIFF forces were also involved in the gun fight.

Then there is the execution video. That trophy made it abundantly clear  that the MILF, our government’s partner for peace, has war criminals in their midst.

Incompetent generals and commanders-in-chief that allow those buffoons to send their men into battle woefully unprepared and unsupported can make anyone’s blood boil, but war criminals who take videos and pride in executing wounded combatants in a battlefield are an entirely different class of animal.

If the leadership of the MILF cannot comprehend what the behavior of the armed men in the area they claim to have complete control over has done to the peace process, then the Philippine government and its entire armed forces have to make them understand where the peace process is currently at.

It is at the brink of collapsing and the only way the MILF can save it is if they can show the people of Mindanao and the Philippines that they are still capable of the enforcing peace. Do the people who cannot even educate and discipline their men on the basics of war understand that the responsibility of ensuring and enforcing peace is infinitely more difficult than fighting a war? If they cannot even deal with the war criminals among them, how on earth will they deal with regular criminals? If their people cannot even comply with a basic human law, how will they abide by this Bangsamoro Basic Law that needs full compliance if it is supposed to bring peace to the land?

I still believe that the BBL is our best chance for peace and that it is a much better option than war. But the MILF has to show us that they are capable of following certain basic laws if they want us to trust them with the peace that they promise to bring if the BBL is passed.

That means surrendering or allowing the rightful government of this country to go after the terrorists and war criminals hiding among their ranks and in within their territories. That also means returning the arms, equipment and personal effects that were taken from the SAF44. If they can do that then we can start believing that they are capable of abiding by the decommissioning agreement and that their battle-hardened fighters and war-torn communities can be reintegrated into a peaceful and just Filipino society.

If the MILF leadership is not committed enough to the idea of peace to make those things happen for the sake of peace, our government will be left with no choice but to prepare for another war.*

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