MILF will not surrender its men

MILF Chief Peace Negotiator Mohagher Iqbal at Thursday’s (Feb 12, 2015) Senate hearing on the Mamasapano clash (Photo courtesy of Sen. Grace Poe’s Facebook page)

MANILA — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will not be surrendering its men, despite calls for them to give up several fighters involved in the bloody encounter which killed 44 elite police commandos.

Instead of surrendering, MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal reiterated the ceasefire agreement signed by their group with the government.

The said agreement protects the group from being subjected to any disciplinary action involved in any violation of the truce.

“We will follow what we have agreed with them in the ceasefire mechanism,” Iqbal was quoted in a Philippine Daily Inquirer report.

He also said that it is also hard for them to convince the members to return the firearms of the killed members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF) commandos.

“It’s hard to convince them (MILF members) because what happened there was a legitimate encounter and we also lost men,” he said.

At least 18 rebels and five civilians were also killed during the encounter held at Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

The encounter occurred following an operation launched by SAF to capture the international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” and his Filipino lieutenant, Basit Usman.