MANILA, Philippines - Active and retired senior military and police officers yesterday called on the government to demand that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) surrender the gunmen involved in the killing of 44 policemen in Maguindanao last Sunday.

The Association of Generals and Flag Officers (AGFO) led by retired Army general Edilberto Adan also called on the rebels to return the firearms of the slain Special Action Force (SAF) operatives.

“The government should demand the return of all the firearms stolen from the dead policemen and for the MILF leadership to surrender the perpetrators within their ranks,” Adan said.

The AGFO declared the killing of the police commandos as “barbaric and unjustifiable,” even under the current protocols of the peace process between the government and the MILF.

The group lamented last Sunday’s killing occurred even as the government has been demonstrating its willingness to accommodate the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people, in reference to the peace process in Mindanao.

The 44 slain policemen were part of a team on a mission to arrest Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, a Malaysian bomb maker on the most wanted list of the US government for his involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings.

The group reportedly encountered a large guerrilla force of the separatist Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) before they were waylaid by the MILF in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

The MILF claimed the police commandos went into their territory without coordinating with the joint ceasefire committee.

Adan suggested the government must closely examine the security implications of any agreement with any armed rebel force like the MILF.

He also suggested the government consider everything first, including the surrender of the MILF rebels involved in the fighting, before proceeding with its peace agreement in Mindanao.

“It should not be forgotten that even as negotiations are happening, the status of the MILF forces as a combatant force that considers the government forces as its enemy is real, as shown in the Al Barka ambush of Army Special Forces in Basilan in 2011 and many other skirmishes,” AGFO said in a statement.

The group also cited the MILF’s failure to take disciplinary actions against Ameril Umbra Kato, the disgraced MILF commander who broke ranks in protest of the ongoing peace negotiations with the government. Kato is now leader of the BIFF.

AGFO said the MILF does not have full control over its fighters on the ground.

The group said Kato and his men are also taking refuge in MILF enclaves, with their gunmen mixing with MILF rebels.

In Mamasapano, where the killing of the policemen occurred, the BIFF camp is just beside the MILF enclave.