The Association of Generals and Flag Officers, an organization of retired senior and military officials, is among those joining the call for the resignation of Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles and Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, chairperson of the government panel for talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“We are demanding that they should be replaced”, former Army chief Lt. Gen. Raul Urgello, who spoke at the induction of new officers of the Bacolod City Veterans District, yesterday said.

Urgello, a member of the AGFO, accused Deles and Ferrer of taking sides with the MILF, which he claimed is responsible for the massacre of 44 police commandos in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last month.

They are supposedly the negotiators of the government, but they are taking sides with the MILF, Urgello, who also once served as commanding general of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, with Maguindanao among the areas of his operations, said.

Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Chiz Escudero have also demanded the resignation of Deles and Ferrer from the government peace panel, noting that they are still blaming the PNP for not coordinating with the MILF for the implementation of Oplan Exodus, which claimed the lives of 44 Special Action Force troopers of the Philippine National Police

Deles brushed aside the accusations of lawyering for MILF and said “I do not mind. Better that, than to shut up because it is not popular, or sexy, to speak up at this time in defense of peace”.

Even before the Mamasapano incident, Urgello, who also served as commanding officer of the 301st Infantry Brigade in Murcia in 1992, said AGFO and Rep. Celso Lobregat had been calling for the scrapping of Bangsamoro Basic Law, citing infirmities in it, including its constitutionality.

He, however, said they have no idea as to those who are behind the coup rumors, since they already retired from the military service. Should there be one, he added, it will not succeed, as it is no longer acceptable to the Filipino people.

You will not succeed without the support of the people. At the same time, it will not benefit the country, citing the case of Thailand, where its economy suffered most when the military took over, Urgello said.

“We are not supporting that move,” Urgello said.

As to the alleged liability of President Benigno Aquino III, being the commander-in-chief, in the Mamasapano incident, he said “It should be asked of legal (luminaries). But it should be thoroughly studied by lawyers if there is a complaint”, he added.

The AGFO also declared the killing of the police commandos as “barbaric and unjustifiable,” even under the current protocols of the peace process between the government and the MILF.

The 44 slain policemen were part of a team on a mission to arrest Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, a Malaysian bomb maker who was in the most-wanted list of the US government for his involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings.

“It should not be forgotten that, even as negotiations are happening, the status of the MILF forces as a combatant force that considers the government forces as its enemy is real, as shown in the Al Barka ambush of Army Special Forces in Basilan in 2011 and many other skirmishes,” AGFO said in a statement, it issued.

The group also cited the failure of the MILF to take disciplinary actions against Ameril Umbra Kato, the disgraced MILF commander who broke ranks in protest of the ongoing peace negotiations with the government. Kato is now leader of the BIFF.

AGFO said the MILF does not have full control over its fighters on the ground, with the group of Kato also taking refuge in MILF enclaves.*GPB

back to top