Hataman: “War is not an option in Mindanao, it should never be an option”

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman at the Senate hearing on the Mamasapano clash, Feb 12, 2015. (screenshot from Rappler footage)

COTABATO CITY, Feb. 17 (PNA) – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman on Tuesday said war is never an option in Mindanao in the aftermath of the Mamasapano debacle.

”I strongly believed that war is not the option, it should never be an option,” Hataman told reporters as the House suspended its investigation on the Mamasapano carnage that left 44 police commandos, 18 rebels and several civilians killed.

Following the incident, calls for “all-out war” in Mindanao reverberated in the capital and in the social network.

“We are from Mindanao and we know the cruelty of war, nobody wins, all of us are losers,” Hataman said.

Hataman said he was hurt by posts in various social media networks calling for war in Mindanao.

”Some have been calling for the scrapping of the Bangsamoro Basic Law,” he said. “If we stop talking to the MILF, what group we will talk with that agrees to come up with agreement attuned to the Philippine Constitution?” Hataman asked.

He said the 17-year peace talks in Mindanao had so many dividends and it should not be destroyed by anything that the MILF had nothing to do with.

”We in the ARMM are for peace based on justice and truth, we all want peace, more than the people of Luzon and the Visayas, we in Mindanao want peace,” Hataman said.

The regional governor stressed that there should be no stopping in the search for peace.