Congress should investigate the alleged collusion by the Abu Sayyaf with police and military elements, the Bangsa Moro Council said over the weekend.
Sultan Macapanton Yahya Abbas Jr., chairman of the Bangsa Moro Council and founding organizer of the E-Just Movement which demands equal protection of the laws for all to attain equal justice for all, demanded this during the media forum at the Sulu Hotel on June 2, 2001.
In a statement issued to media a day after the forum, Abbas said this alleged collusion between the Abu Sayyaaf and some officials of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines officials must be investigated by Congress or else there will be no solution to the kidnappings.
“The Abu Sayyaf kidnappings in Dos Palmas, Puerto Princessa, and the attack at the Barcelo Pearl Farm resort on Samal Island in Davao were the result of the failure of the government, both civilian and military authorities, in effecting solutions after the Sumisip and Sipadan kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf,” Abbas said.
It was also a result, he added, of “other depredations from last year and (the failure of) massive poverty alleviation programs for Muslim Mindanao as promised by the previous and present administrations.”
He said that the “failure by the government to investigate the causes and effects of the Mindanao war in Central Mindanao and the ransom payments by the European Countries and South Africa as well as Malaysia through former Secretary Robert Aventajado and former Presidential Adviser Lee Peng Wee with, the full authority from former President Estrada and the cooperation of the AFP and PNP leaderships has emboldened the ASG.”
Abbas said “this fact must be considered in relation to the present Sulu war to liquidate the Abu Sayyaf but not even one of its leaders was captured or killed in action.”
Abbas also pointed out that the policy of a news blackout, aside from violating the freedom of the press and the equal protection of the laws, is counterproductive. “It is also not enforceable because the international media has already made the kidnapping international headline news. Further, the military, police and politicians love to talk to the media,” the Moro lawyer said.
He said that the policy of using vigilantes against the Abu Sayyaf “is a practice resorted to by uncivilized and warlord-dominated regimes but unthinkable for a democratic, civilized and Christian country.”
Abbas said that the reported support by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines for vigilantes “is a bad message of the Roman Catholic Church to the Muslim world that it condones savage measures against Muslims even if they are terrorists while they oppose the implementation of death penalty for convicted criminals of heinous crimes.”
This position, he said, “may lead to a revival of the jihad movement, which was recognized by the Organization of the Islamic Conference from 1972 to 1996 when the Final Peace Agreement was signed between the Moro National Liberation Front and the OIC.”
Meanwhile, Abbas also called on President Arroyo to stop Palace officials from interfering in the internal and leadership issues of the MNLF and Moro Islamic Liberation Front. “These actions will only cause the radicalization of the mujahideen groups, who have already cooperated with government in peace efforts, because they will not accept Malacanang puppets to take over their organizations,” Abbas said.
Abbas said these positions by the Bangsa Moro Council is consistent with the series of consultations with various Muslim sectors including the MNLF, MILF, Musuwarah Party of MNLF ulama, the Supreme Council of Ulama, the Bangsamoro Youth Independence Movement, Muslim Bar Association, the Fourth Bangsamoro Congress, and newly elected governors, congressmen and mayors in Mindanao. These groups have arrived at a consensus calling for a National Muslim Unity Conference.
The groups, according to Abbas, have said that the President “should enter into serious, substantive and regular consultations with the Muslim political, ulama, intellectuals, business and sectoral leaders in its pursuit of national goals and policies affecting the peace, social progress and economic development of our regions as it pursues the peace process with the MNLF and the MILF.”
They also urged the President to evaluate the selection of advisers and officials in Mindanao for the Muslims, Christians, and Lumads “because the results of the May 14, 2001, elections clearly sent the message that these men and women were not effective and failed to bring the message of the President to the people, with the People Power Coalition senatorial and local candidates failing to achieve convincing victories.”
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