Mindanao Truth Commission Appeals 
for Mutineers’ Help in Probe of Davao Bombings

An independent citizens’ commission doubts that a truly independent investigation could be expected from the government “as long as Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes holds on to his post and continues to wield immense powers over the AFP intelligence units and its whole apparatus.”

BY GILBERT PACIFICAR
Bulatlat.com Mindanao Bureau

DAVAO CITY – Even as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is yet to make true her SONA promise of creating a commission to probe the Davao bombings, the citizen-led Mindanao Truth Commission has kicked off its own independent investigation.

Convenors of the Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao (INPEACE Mindanao) has called on the junior officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who staged the July 27 mutiny in Makati last week to “entrust their evidence and testimonies” to the Commission.

Members of the “grassroots-based” Commission come from the Muslim and Christian religious, Lumads, lawyers, the academe, human-rights watchdogs and peace-advocacy groups.

In its document entitled “Framework for the Mindanao Independent Fact Finding Mission,” which was released to the press during the Mindanao Peace Forum attended by Vice President Teofisto Guingona two weeks before the Makati mutiny, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Hashim Salamat, and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Mindanao spokesman Ka Oris were identified by the group as “key information sources.”

This, as Inpeace Mindanao leaders doubted that a truly independent investigation could be expected from the government “as long as Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes holds on to his post and continues to wield immense powers over the AFP intelligence units and its whole apparatus.”

Grassroots initiative

“That is why we are holding this ‘grassroots-based initiative’ because a whitewash is highly probable under the Arroyo administration,” Inpeace Mindanao convenor Dr. Robinson Montalba said.

Around 300 rebel soldiers including the young officers of AFP calling themselves as the Magdalo group staged a mutiny at the Oakwood service apartments in Makati City last July 27.

The mutineers revealed that Reyes and Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus were behind the Davao bombings and had plotted terroristic activities that would lead to the declaration of martial law this month.

The rebel soldiers also accused the AFP of selling firearms and ammunition to the New People’s Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. No wonder then, they said, that more soldiers have become casualties in the long-drawn-out war in Mindanao.

Reyes-Corpus hand

In a statement, Montalba said: “The alleged Reyes-Corpus hand in the Davao bombings further emphasizes our analysis that traditional institutions like the AFP, including the whole Arroyo administration, are suffering from a serious crisis of credibility.”

At the same time, convenors of the Mindanao Truth Commission called on NDF-Mindanao spokesman Ka Oris to provide the group with “credible evidence” and to “name names” following the revolutionary leader’s confirmation that certain corrupt officials of the AFP have been selling firearms and ammunition to the guerrillas.

INPEACE Mindanao said that its “consistent and persistent” call for an independent investigation into the series of mystery bombings in Davao and other parts in Mindanao had been “validated” by the claims of the young officers of the Philippine Military Academy Class ‘95. It said the AFP junior officers “confirmed and validated that the pervading terrorism in Mindanao is government-sponsored.”

Montalba added that the victims of the Davao bombings deserve to be given immediate justice and that “if the AFP junior officers are sincere in their quest for genuine reforms in the armed forces and the country, they should press on by presenting the evidence they hold until heads will roll, including those of the Defense and AFP top brass.”

“It is the moral obligation of the AFP junior officers to tell all, and help seek justice for the victims of the AFP’s alleged terrorism in Davao,” Montalba said. 

Memorial liturgy

Meanwhile, Inpeace Mindanao members lighted a candle and prayed for the bombing victims during a liturgy on July 29, days ahead of the fifth month of the Davao International Airport bombing, which happened last March 4.

The names of the victims were read out loud as peace advocates lighted candles and unfurled streamers calling for “justice for all victims of the Davao bombings” and “Secretary Angelo Reyes: Resign!”

The group was planning another memorial liturgy at what used to be the airport’s waiting shed where 23 people were killed by the bomb. About 150 others were injured by the incident. It said it would then kick off a signature drive to petition for the resignation of the DND chief.

Shamed Republic

Edgie Uyanguren, acting secretary-general of Bayan-Southern Mindanao, described the Arroyo administration as having “crumbled in shame at once” after junior officers squealed about the evils within the armed forces.

He said: “No amount of window-dressing can cover up the maggots now decking her administration as her mutinous constituents in the military pointed to her General (Reyes) as the mastermind of the horrendous carnages, among others the Davao (airport and seaport) bombings which took the lives of 41 civilians and wounded scores of others.”

“We demand the ouster of a shameless president and her equally shameless defense secretary General Angelo Reyes to step down from over,” he added. Bulatlat.com Mindanao Bureau

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