“…the first casualty…”

 

Pixelized photo of an original clear photo from http://www.luwaran.com

I pixelized this photo, it is a tight shot of the side view of a portion of the head of the slain imam, Imam Alkanul. His hacked body with his head almost severed, was allegedly found by the MILF Investigating Team reportedly lying side by side with six beheaded Marines at the battle scene a day after the military encounter, according to the MILF website, www.luwaran.com

The original shot is alright for publication, I think; but I showed it to some friends and some of them felt it was too gruesome to be shown as is. So I pixelized it, if you can’t make anything out of the pixelized version, you may look at the MILF website.

This blog has been one-sided in favor of the government in its posts of the July 10 encounter between the government and the MILF, I relied solely on the traditional mass media and took comfort that surely these professional reporters got all the sides; I wasn’t aware that the blog had been one-sided until I saw this account. I guess the account may be verified by going to the area and interviewing villagers.

In the interest of balance and fairness, we are posting excerpts from the MILF website on what happened that fateful day.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said yesterday after medical teams were sent to Basilan: “Harm them, and Hades will come to you”. A painting by El Greco from http://www.uni-leipzig.de/ru/bilder

Well, I might tell her today, “Seize and force any imam and the proverbial sword of truth might fall.” According to the MILF website, in the early morning of July 10, the 1^st Marine Brigade forcibly took Imam Alkanul from his house in Ginanta and forced him to accompany them to where the MILF base was located. At 9:00 am, according to the MILF, when the shooting between the Marines and the MILF ensued, Imam Alkanul was in the custody of the Marines. The website does not mention whether he was alive or dead at that time that the firefight occurred.

Medical teams, religious personnel, cultural objects, and places of worship, are all protected under international humanitarian law, in particular the guarantees of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions (Protocol II), as follows:

quote “Article 9.-Protection of medical and religious personnel

quote “1. Medical and religious personnel shall be respected and protected and shall be granted all available help for the performance of their duties. They shall not be compelled to carry out tasks which are not compatible with their humanitarian mission.

quote “2. In the performance of their duties medical personnel may not be required to give priority to any person except on medical grounds.

XXX

quote “Article 16.-Protection of cultural objects and of places of worship

quote “Without prejudice to the provisions of The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954, it is prohibited to commit any acts of hostility directed against historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples, and to use them in support of the military effort.” closed-quote.

Here is the MILF account of the event. The following struck me:

 

“War” a detail of a bas-relief by Gauguin from www.bc.edu

According to this account, the 1^st Marine Brigade started conducting patrol operations on July 8, 2007 “creating fear and chaos among local inhabitants”. 2) The Marines, according to this account, on July 10 at 7:00 am disarmed two MILF members, the two reminded the Marines they were on MILF ground, and the soldiers replied they didn’t recognize any MILF territory; 3) When the Marines entered Ginanta, Al-Barkah, a firefight ensued that lasted from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. 4) At 5:00 pm, the shooting stopped as arranged by the MILF ceasefire committee and the government ceasefire committee, according to this account; 5) According to this narration, when the ceasefire was in place, the MILF fighters were ordered by their commanders to leave the area and before they left they conducted a clearing operation and body-counted 23 dead Marines and not one was beheaded or mutilated. 6) At 6:00 pm, the MILF informed the government’s Major Macatoon that the MILF fighters had left the area. 7) At 8:00 pm, Major Macatoon asked the MILF representative whether the area had been totally cleared, and he was informed, “Yes”, and he in turn informed the MILF that the area had been cleared of the Marines and their dead comrades. 8.)At 9:00 pm, Colonel Almadrones informed the MILF that they (the MILF) were still holding ten of their soldiers (government) as captives. The MILF verified and found that none of their units held the ten. 9)The next day at 5:30 am, the MILF surveyed the battle scene and there found six Marines, beheaded, and the body of an old man hacked to death. It was the imam.

Here’s the verbatim MILF account:

< Quote “The Philippine Marines of the 1st Marine Brigade completely disregarded the ceasefire agreement between the MILF and the government by conducting three prior military operations before the bloody encounter on July 10, 2007:

Quote “On July 8, 2007, the Marines conducted military operation in Barangay Lipu Upas, Tipo-Tipo, Basilan creating fear and chaos among the local inhabitants. Limbu Upas is about three (3) kilometers from Ginanta where the July 10 encounter took place.

Quote “On July 9, 2007 the same Marine outfit made a follow-up operation and entered Barangay Linuan, Al-Barkah town, the defense perimeter of an MILF area at an adjacent barangay of Ginanta, which is well known to the AFP because the MILF had conducted a peace advocacy program there on June 2, 2006 that was fully coordinated with the MILF-GRP CCCH;

Quote “On July 10, 2007, at 7:00 am, the Marines under the command of Major Marcelino entered Barangay Linuan again where they disarmed one MILF member, Hadji Hakim, of his carbine rifle and divested one other MILF member of his tiger uniform and MILF patches. When reminded by one of the two MILF members that the Marines were already encroaching on an MILF area covered by the ceasefire agreement, the Marines said: “We do not recognize any MILF area. The entire Philippines is ours.”

Quote “At around 9:00 am on July 10, 2007, the Marines entered Ginanta, Al-Barkah (formerly Tipo-Tipo), where the MILF forces and camp are located. The presence of the MILF camp is previously known to the Philippine government because of the ceasefire agreement. And when the Marines suddenly entered the area, a firefight ensued.

“The Way” by Ayesha Khan from http://www.yale.edu

 

Quote “MILF fighters involved in the fighting were only two (2) platoons from MILF military units, namely, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Brigade of the 114 Base Command of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) based in Basilan. More than 100 MILF fighters arrived as reinforcements but failed to participate in the battle because the fighting was already over when they reached Ginanta.

Quote “At 5:00 pm a ceasefire was already in place, and this was arranged by the MILF CCCH and the GRP CCCH.

Quote “With the ceasefire back in place, the MILF fighters were ordered to disengage and leave the battle scene completely. But before they left they conducted a clearing operation and they found and body-counted 23 Marines dead and not one was beheaded or mutilated.

Quote “The MILF suffered five (5) martyred and six (6) wounded in combat.

Quote “At around 6:00 pm of the same day, the MILF Local Monitoring Team (LMT) informed Marine Major Macatoon that the MILF fighters had withdrawn and the area of battle was cleared.

Quote “At 8:00 pm, same day, Maj. Macatoon inquired from the MILF- LMT if the area was totally cleared, and the answer was positive. Thereupon Maj. Macatoon informed the MILF-LMT that all the Marines and their equipment were withdrawn including their dead casualties.

Quote “At 9:00 pm, same day, Marine Col. Almadrones informed the MILF-LMT that there were ten (10) Marines held by the MILF as “captives”. After a thorough verification, no such Marines were captured by the MILF.

Quote “On July 11, 2007, at around 5:30 am, the MILF-BIAF fighters conducted an inspection of the battle scene and they found six (6) dead Marines already beheaded, and one old man hacked in the back and his throat slashed so much so that his head was almost severed from his body. It was later identified that the dead civilian was 69 year-old Imam Hakim Ali or Alkanul.

Quote “The MILF Investigating Team, in its preliminary findings, found out that on the early morning of July 10, 2007, the Marines forcibly took Imam Alkanul from his house in Ginanta and coerced him into accompanying them to where the MILF base is located. They also forced him to carry some of their loads, especially ammunition. When the firing started, Alkanul was with the Marines. His dead body, hogtied and bearing deeply inflicted wounds and his head almost severed from his neck, was found alongside the fallen Marines.

Quote “The MILF Investigating Team is conducting further probe into the “beheading” of the Marines. All the MILF unit commanders involved in the fighting were investigated but all denied that they or their units beheaded or mutilated the corpses of the Marines. Commander Musawwarin Abubakar, chief of the MILF 114 Base Command, told the Investigating Team that committing barbaric acts to a fallen enemy is a crime against Islam, humanity, and the rules of engagement promulgated by the MILF General Staff. He also condemned the beheading in the strongest possible term.

Quote “Commander Musawwarin reported to the MILF Investigating Team that MILF units involved in the fighting withdrew at 6:00 pm on July 10 and from this time up to 9:00 pm, the Philippine Marines started to retrieve their fallen and wounded comrades as well as equipment. He posed the question: “Why did the Marines only know that there were still ten (10) Marines unaccounted for after more than one hour, and after having been in the battle scene for at least one hour earlier?”” closed-quote.

 

 

“Truth is the first casualty…”