BAYAN MUNA Representative Crispin Beltran today expressed doubt regarding
the veracity of reports on the supposed attacks of the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) against civilians and civilian communities.
He said that the reports on the attacks emanated mostly from the Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and were evidently biased. He said
that very much like the coverage of the Iraq war where journalists
were forced to rely mainly on the statements of the US and British
military commands, developments in the war in Mindanao and the supposed
attacks was being documented by the AFP.
"The main source of information in Zamboanga del Norte and everywhere
else in Mindanao where the supposed attacks are happening is the military.
Given this, there is much to be said for the lack of objectivity and
truth in the reports. Overnight, the MILF has been transformed from
a liberation organization of the Muslim people in the Philippines
to a group no different from the Abu Sayyaf," he said.
He said that the continued reports of atrocities against civilians
as supposedly perpetrated by the MILF were serves a definite purpose
laid down by the AFP, the Macapagal-Arroyo government and now the
United States."They want to strengthen the case against the MILF and
justify not only the complete scrapping of peace negotiations with
the Islamic liberation group, but also its labeling as a terrorist
organization," he said.
The activist solon said that the reports that have been released
by the military regarding the alleged MILF attacks were timed to support
the statement of US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone
that the US has already set its sights on declaring the MILF a terrorist
group. He said that the reports and the Ricciardone's statement appear
orchestrated.
"The Philippine government's agenda in Mindanao is clear, and its
plans are slowly taking shape. The Macapagal-Arroyo government wants
to completely open Mindanao to foreign businesses, particularly to
American investors, and the first step is to wipe out the forces of
the MILF because they stand in the way. The Arroyo government has
been laying the conditions for the eventual terrorist labeling of
the MILF; but now Ricciardone has jumped the gun and exposed that
the US already has intentions of considering the MILF terrorist,"
he said.
He said that the terrorist labeling against the MILF was a serious
threat not so much against the MILF, but against Muslim civilians
all over the country. He said that Muslim civilians are automatically
put under suspicion of being MILF supporters if not being actual members.
"If the US does push through with branding the MILF as terrorist,
it might quite possibly signal greater attacks against the civil and
human rights of Muslim Filipinos, especially in Mindanao," he said.
Beltran reiterated his condemnation for the American ambassador and
the government he represents' continued meddling and interference
in Philippine internal affairs. He said that the war in Mindanao was
primarily the doing of the AFP with prodding and close facilitation
of the US' military and intelligence operatives in the country. "Thousands
of civilians have lost their homes and their lives because of the
military operations which have been unprovoked. Charges have been
trumped up against the MILF to justify the operations against them,
and the continued deployment of AFP battalions in Mindanao, as well
as US forces here for the Balikatan exercises. The military and the
government's duplicity should be exposed and condemned," he said.
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