Palace wants AFP to probe reported firearms pilferage

Malacañang wants the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to investigate reports that some military personnel continue to sell government firearms and ammunition to members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said he has yet to talk to Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. about the issue, which was reported by the Manila Times, but said the military leadership should probe its own ranks to see if government weapons continue to get into the hands of Moro rebels. Mabanta was reported to have admitted that the MILF and other criminal elements sourced some of their firearms from unscrupulous military personnel, but said this practice has stopped and the personnel involved have been prosecuted. "If that's an admission from the AFP, assuming that was stated, they should conduct their own investigation on the matter, how our own armaments are being used against our very own soldiers," Lacierda said. "We expect an investigation from the AFP and we expect results from them," he added. The sale of firearms and ammunition to rebel organizations was among the grievances of some 300 soldiers that seized the Oakwood Premiere Hotel (now Ascot) in Makati City on July 27, 2003. They even went as far as saying that some officials of the Department of National Defense (DND) had a hand in the illegal activity. In a follow-up report published Wednesday, the Manila Times quoted former MILF peace panel head Mohagher Iqbal as saying the pilferage of arms continues. Mabanta, however, maintained that the selling of firearms to the MILF no longer occurs. The government is planning to resume peace talks with the MILF after the month-long Ramadan, which began Wednesday. The government has been holding talks with the MILF since 1997, during the time of then President Fidel Ramos. During the short-lived Estrada administration, talks were virtually non-existent as the government waged an all-out war campaign against the secessionist group, resulting in the seizure of major and satellite camps of the MILF across Central Mindanao. Talks resumed during the Arroyo administration, but peace efforts with the MILF were jeopardized in late 2008 when the Supreme Court barred the signing — and eventually ruled as unconstitutional—of a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain between the government and the MILF expanding the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The junking of the MOA-AD triggered violent acts from a faction of the MILF. Subsequent discussions between the government and the Moro secessionists, however, resulted in an agreement to continue talks under the next administration. — Jam L. Sisante/KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV