By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Breakaway members of the Philippines’ one-time largest rebel group have again rejected invitations to take part in congressional hearings on a draft law on the country’s Muslim south.
Abu Masry Mama, a self-proclaimed spokesperson for the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) splinter group, said Tuesday they cannot join in any peace process that falls short of their bid for an independent "Moro" state - the Moro being ethnically indigenous Muslims - in the southern Philippines.
“We better keep on fighting the military in the field than engage in any hearing on that draft BBL [Bangsamoro Basic Law],” said Mama. “That is purely an initiative of the MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation Front] and the government.”
The BIFF opposes peace talks between the government and the MILF, who signed a March 27 peace deal that brought to a close 17 years of negotiations and ended a decades-old armed conflict in the southern area of Mindanao -- the second largest and southernmost major island in the Philippines -- while granting Muslim areas greater political autonomy.
Since breaking away in 2008, the BIFF has vowed to destroy the peace process with its head Ameril Umbra Kato leading attacks in Mindanao that left more than 400 people dead and hundreds of thousands of others displaced.
On September 10, President Benigno Aquino III personally submitted a draft BBL to Congress leaders during a turnover ceremony at his office, the Malacanang Palace.
A 75-member ad-hoc House of Representatives committee was organized last week to study the draft law, and will start deliberating on it Wednesday.
Referring to Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez’s earlier comments calling for BIFF chief Kato to join the deliberations, Mama said, “We can only tell Congressman Rodriguez thanks for the invitation. None from the BIFF can join the hearings.”
In previous declarations, Mama had said the BIFF wants independence through armed struggle.
Meanwhile, the government and MILF peace panels have dismissed reported recruitment by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Philippines, particularly Mindanao.
Referring to Mama’s statements about the BIFF having pledged allegiance to ISIL, government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said that claims of such close contact does not necessarily mean that elements from the group have already infiltrated the country.
MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal has also stressed the lack of evidence on reported recruitment by saying, "We have been on the ground and I have not even heard of any substantive evidence to prove that.”
Speculations on the matter came in the wake of reports that two Filipinos were among those recently killed in Syria while allegedly fighting for ISIL, and a video posted on Youtube showing members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf pledging allegiance to the group.
Last week, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying it was working closely with the United States government to thwart any reported recruitment.
However, Iqbal downplayed the reports by adding, "It's better for them to use that money buying ammunition rather than to spend… to send [people] to Syria and Baghdad.”
Iqbal also reiterated that the MILF “do not have any alliance or any strategic conference” with the BIFF or other rebel groups in Mindanao, such as the Abu Sayyaf.
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