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MANILA, Philippines–It’s final: Only Malaysia, facilitator of the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), will get a copy of the rebel group’s full report of its investigation of the Mamasapano incident.

“And that’s final,” Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chair for political affairs, told the Inquirer on Wednesday, in remarks that somehow doused hopes of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to secure a copy.

Jaafar declined to disclose details of the report of his group’s probe of the clash involving members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF) on a mission to take down Malaysian bomb expert Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, on Jan. 25.

But he said an executive summary of the report, which “is being processed now,” would be given to the International Monitoring Team (IMT), which oversees the ceasefire agreement between the government and the MILF.

Forty-four SAF commandos, 18 MILF rebels and five civilians were killed during the fighting, jeopardizing efforts for the passage by Congress of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as a governing body in Mindanao under a peace deal.

Peace talks protocol

In an interview after a media forum at the National Press Club in Intramuros, Manila, Jaafar reiterated the MILF Central Committee’s decision to submit its investigation report to Kuala Lumpur “in accordance with the protocol of the peace talks that Malaysia is facilitating.”

Last week, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima asked the MILF for a copy of the report to balance the DOJ’s investigation of the Mamasapano incident.

De Lima cited the difficulty of looking into the MILF deaths because the DOJ investigators did not know who were killed and had not seen proofs of death which, she stressed, were important in criminal cases.

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She told reporters that she would send another letter to the MILF leadership to reiterate the DOJ request.

“Maybe they can get a copy of the report from the IMT, but I’m not suggesting that,” Jaafar said.

During the media forum, the MILF official appealed to Christian churches in the country to “work together with us with this upright cause (pushing for the peace process in Mindanao with the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law) and for all of us to pray for the success of a just and dignified peace process in Mindanao.”

Reading a prepared statement, he urged media practitioners to “continue conducting their noble mission of uniting instead of dividing, of calming instead of fanning the flames of unrest.”

History of oppression

To government leaders, he said: “Lead us to a peaceful and progressive Mindanao as it paves the way to a better Philippines.”

Jaafar pointed out that during the past 108 years, more than 126,400 Muslim Filipinos had been “liquidated and obliterated” by the government. From March 8, 1906, to Oct. 19, 1980, alone, “6,447 Muslim Filipinos were unjustly exterminated by acts of inhuman slaughter,” he said.

“These are the vital parts of history that are first needed to be known and refreshed for us to better understand the real situation we are in today. How can one appreciate the present and prepare for the future if he doesn’t know the relevant historical past?” he asked.

Muslim Filipinos “are also citizens of the Republic of the Philippines,” Jaafar said. “Peace and harmony are what we all are yearning for.”

In pushing for the passage of the proposed BBL, he said “we have been given a chance to have a time for healing, a time when we have the opportunity to have our hearts bound together and to put an end to all these seemingly never-ending military and political warfare, which only brought forth anguish and hatred.”

A time for forgiving

“It’s time to stop firing our guns and start treating one another as equals and brothers, a time when we stop insisting our selfish desires and start understanding what the other party aspires, a time when we stop seeking revenge and instead, start choosing to forgive the ones who caused us losses and sufferings,” he said.

“The BBL is not a tool for insurgency. It is a move, a first step to unite all the people of Mindanao to forge a common peace for the sake of progress.”

The news forum was hosted by veteran journalists Lolly Acosta and Joel Palacios.

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