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WOUNDED Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. pins a Wounded Personnel Medal to a soldier of the Army’s 32nd Infantry Battalion following a clash with Moro Islamic Liberation Front members in Sumisip, Basilan, on Wednesday. —JULIE S. ALIPALA

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. shot down assertions from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that government troops would need to “seek permission” to enter communities where members of the erstwhile rebel group has predominant presence.

Brawner made this pronouncement in a briefing on Thursday following the ambush by MILF members of a team of Army soldiers escorting personnel of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sumisip, Basilan, on Wednesday.

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Brawner said the soldiers were not involved in a law enforcement operation since their mission was to secure UNDP officials. “So, we don’t need to seek permission from them.”

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Under an agreement to jointly pursue “lawless elements” in rebel strongholds, prior coordination by police and military units had to be established with the MILF. The MILF forces will then be given time to move to an “area of temporary stay” or ATS to avoid misencounter as government troops conduct law enforcement operations.

ATS, according to Brawner, is “nonexistent already so the MILF cannot make prior coordination as an excuse for our troops not to enter [the community].”

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Even then, Brawner said there was clear coordination starting from the top leaders of the government and the MILF down to the lower units.

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“The letter of the Joint Normalization Committee was given to many addressees, including various units in the government and even to the MILF side. So there was prior coordination,” Brawner stressed.

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The ambush and resulting clash in Barangay Lower Cabengbeng left two soldiers dead and 12 others wounded. Reports said the MILF had one fighter slain and two others wounded.

Screengrab of a video posted in “When in Sibulan” Facebook page showing a burning military truck after the firefight.—JULIE S. ALIPALA

UN vows to stay

In a statement, UNDP Resident Coordinator in the Philippines Gustavo Gonzales said none of their personnel were in the immediate vicinity of the incident, noting it was the first “involving a United Nations team since the implementation of the peace process.”

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But Gonzales strongly condemned the ambush “which occurred when members of the AFP were on their way to escort a team from UNDP for community engagement in the area.”

Brawner said despite the humanitarian and development work being brought to their community, “it was unthinkable why they did it, given that the higher-up knew that UNDP [personnel] will come down and we will provide escorts.”

“We were really surprised of the lawless elements’ action,” he added.

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Citing soldiers’ accounts, Brawner said “the enemy were a handful of lawless elements at first.”

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“Slowly, the number of fighters increased. On social media, we found out they (reinforcements) are members of the MILF,” he added.

Despite the incident, Gonzales said the UNDP “will stay and deliver” in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) where “the UN supports peacebuilding efforts of national, regional and local authorities” and have already “made significant progress.”

BARMM interim Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim said the “unfortunate incident” in Sumisip was “disheartening” as it happened in the week when the Bangsamoro people were celebrating the sixth founding anniversary of the regional government.

Protest

Brawner said the government would pursue justice for the soldiers but would continue to uphold the peace agreement with the MILF.

Lt. Gen. Antonio Nafarette, commander of the AFP’s Western Mindanao Command, said the military had written the joint ceasefire committee to protest the actions of MILF members hoping this will trigger “an honest investigation” of the incident by both parties.

“Based on [the] initial [set of] facts, there seems to be [a real] involvement of MILF [members] and we will pursue that. And in ground operations, we will first go after the lawless elements,” Nafarette said.

“We will inform the communities that they are not our targets. Our targets are those lawless elements involved in the skirmish and we assure them that the AFP will adhere to the law,” he added.

Slain in the ambush were Cpl. Orland James Diamel of Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte, and Pfc. Mark Barat of Carmen, Cotabato.

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Injured were Cpl. Dennis Amarado, Cpl. Guillero Hills Superales, Cpl. Alex Banggay, Cpl. Morris Perez, Pfc. Dexter Panesmcw casino, Pfc. Eduard Mallorca, Pfc. Jezreel Aral, Pfc. Jan Maligaya, Pfc. Elmer Elefanio, Pvt. Jovane Amoyo, Pvt. Prince Angelo Banaag, and Pvt. Ralph Para.

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