GENERAL SANTOS CITY, South Cotabato: Some commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have joined forces with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) along with thousands of their men because they do not want to give up their high-powered firearms and ammunition.

Ustadz Pendie Colano, the overall chairman of the Selatan State Revolutionary Committee, a sub-wing of the MNLF, told The Manila Times that four top MILF commanders have rejoined his group.

Each commander has 1,000 combatants under him.

"So this means that if four commanders are not willing to lay down their firearms, 4,000 MILF fighters will merge with us.

That is the reason why I have said that the annex on normalization will not be fully implemented because MILF forces, especially the followers of Chairman Ibrahim Murad, are against laying down their firearms,” he said.

Colano added that more MILF commanders will soon join the MNLF.

He made the revelation when he met with MNLF senior leaders in General Santos City over the weekend.

The annex on normalization outlines steps to decommission MILF firearms. It is one of three annexes that comprise the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which was signed by the heads of the government and MILF peace panels in Malacanang on March 27.

Under the annex on normalization, an independent decommissioning body (IDB) composed of three foreign and four local experts will oversee the laying down of MILF guns.

The IDB will also monitor the inventory of weapons, their collection, transport and storage.

The other annexes deal with transitional modalities and arrangements, revenue generation, wealth-sharing and power-sharing.

Another reason why the four MILF commanders joined their group is that they do not want to support Malaysia’s supposed plan to use the MILF to help them maintain control over Sabah, Colano said.

The MNLF leader added that the commanders revealed that Malaysia wants the MILF to fight the MNLF, particularly its forces who are protecting the family of the late Sultan Jamalul Kiram 3rd of the Royal Sultanate of Sabah and Borneo. The sultanate is claiming Sabah, now part of Malaysia.

"Aside from their refusal to surrender their firearms to the government, these MILF forces do not want to fight us,” Colano told The Times.

He noted that the four commanders also threw their support behind the MNLF’s demand for full implementation of the 1996 peace agreement signed by the group with the government.

Colano claimed that the MNLF, not the MILF, is the "franchise holder” of the peace agreement recognized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

He did not identify these commanders because they are yet to inform the MILF chairman of their move to join the MNLF.

"They do not want Murad to know that they are already with us.

But if they are summoned [by the MILF leader], they said that won’t be a cause for concern because they hid their firearms in a secure place and there is no danger that these arms will end up in the hands of government troops,” Colano said.

He added that some MILF commanders have "long planned” to return to the MNLF fold but were just waiting for a chance to do it.

"Now they have this chance,” Colano stressed.

The MILF is a breakaway group of the MNLF.

War

Colano also claimed that the transfer of thousands of MILF fighters to their group greatly boosted their numbers.

"[President Benigno] Aquino [3rd] is very confident in ignoring the MNLF final agreement signed on September 2, 1996 because he believes that we are not capable of waging another war. That is the blunder of Aquino because half of the 30,000 forces of the MILF are with us now and the more that [our number] increases, [the more] ready we are to face war. We have enough forces to send to help the royal family of the late Sultan Kiram and fight the Malaysian government who has the interest in Sabah,” he said.

He added that Malaysia brokered the peace process between the Philippine government and the MILF only "because of Sabah.”

"It’s not that we don’t want peace. We look up to and give high respect to the head of state. But it’s President Aquino who provoked the situation,” Colano said.

He explained that the President expedited the peace deal with the MILF because he wanted to become "a hero” by showing that he can succeed in negotiating peace with the MILF like what former President Fidel Ramos did when his government signed the final agreement with the MNLF.

Colano said the 4,000 MILF fighters who rejoined them are ready to fight alongside MNLF commandos if the 1996 peace agreement is ditched by the government.

He warned that a "greater and more serious problem” will arise if Aquino insists on the implementation of the CAB.

But Jimmy Labawan, the vice chairman of the MNLF Central Committee, said his group wants to avoid a shooting conflict because they also want peace in Mindanao.

Labawan called for restraint during his consultations with MNLF ground commanders.

He said though that the signing of the CAB was "treacherous” because by doing so, the government set aside the peace pact with the MNLF.

Labawan added that the Aquino administration copied some provisions of the peace agreement with the MNLF. What were changed, he said, were the methods by which the provisions of the CAB will be implemented.

Draft law

Meanwhile, Malacañang said the proposed law that will create the Bangsamoro entity is expected to be in Congress by May.

Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Aquino intends to submit the proposed Bangsamoro Basic law to Congress next month since the draft is still being crafted under the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC).

"The timeline is really to submit it as early as possible. We are hoping that we will be able to finalize the review process in time for filing sometime in May,” Lacierda told reporters on Monday.

He noted that the BTC will forward the draft to the Office of the President for further review.

"Once it is okayed by the Office of the President, we will submit it to Congress. The President will certify it as urgent. Hopefully by the end of this year, we will have the Bangsamoro Basic Law enacted,” Lacierda said.

Legislators are on a Holy Week break. They will report back to work on May 5, 2014.

When asked if he expects the law to have "smooth sailing” in Congress, Lacierda said Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Teresita Deles has "already made the rounds with the House and the Senate” to brief lawmakers on the CAB.

"We certainly would hope that the House and the Senate realize how important and how vital this particular peace agreement is to the development in Mindanao,” he added.

With Catherine Valente