Trillanes seeks Senate probe on MILF-military clashes

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has filed a resolution seeking an inquiry into the alleged "operational and tactical lapses" of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in its recent clashes with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao which has led to the death of several soldiers and civilians. Senate Resolution No. 629 seeks to direct the Senate committees on national defense and security and peace, unification and reconciliation to probe the circumstances surrounding the clashes between the MILF and government troops amid the peace talks. "Someone has to be made accountable for the deaths of our troops in Mindanao. Possible operational and tactical lapses on the part of the AFP might have led to the gruesome death of our soldiers, which to my count has reached at least 29 soldiers in the recent clashes," said Trillanes, a former Navy officer, in a statement released Tuesday. Trillanes specifically noted the October 18 encounter in Cambug in Al- Barka town in Basilan, where troops from the Army's 13th and 19th Special Forces Company were reportedly sent to the area to verify reports that armed men headed by Dan Lakaw Asnawi were holding kidnap victims. He said that according to the military, Asnawi's group was among the MILF rebels involved in the beheading of 14 Marines in Ginanta village in 2007. "We also need to confirm the reports that many of the soldiers involved were allegedly undergoing scuba diving training for the Special Forces when they were hastily ordered to pursue - on behalf of the police - MILF Commander Dan Laksaw Asnawi," he said. The MILF had earlier asserted that the military violated the truce by launching an attack within their area of temporary stay (ATS), which the military denied. "There is an urgent and imperative need to inquire into and investigate the foregoing incidents in order to put into place the appropriate mechanisms and policies relating to the ongoing peace negotiations with the MILF with the end in view of preventing similar incidents in the future," he said. He likewise said that there is a need to look into the possible accountability and culpability on the part of the MILF leadership for the incident despite the ongoing peace talks. On Monday, President Benigno Aquino III said he will pursue "all-out justice" to address the successive attacks by some elements of the MILF. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News