Military

DATE=5/2/02

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=JOEL ROCAMORA-PHILIPPINE

NUMBER=3-170

BYLINE=REBECCA WARD

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

/// EDITORS: THIS INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE IN DALET UNDER SOD/ENGLISH NEWS NOW INTERVIEWS IN THE FOLDER FOR TODAY OR YESTERDAY ///

VOA INTERVIEW WITH JOEL ROCAMORA-PHILIPPINE REBELS- BY VOA'S REBECCA WARD - MAY 2, 2002

HOST: The death toll from Wednesday's grenade attack in the southern Philippines has now risen to seven, with at least 124 people injured. Officials say they have detained four men for questioning in connection with the attack on a religious festival near the city of Cotabato. Authorities originally said they suspected Muslim guerrillas might have been behind the attack.

The Philippines has been rocked by a series of bombings over the past few weeks. While just who is responsible for those attacks is not clear, police in the past have suspected the Muslim rebel Abu Sayyaf group or the fundamentalist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Joel Rocamora (rock-uh-mor-uh) is the executive director of the Institute for Popular Democracy in the Philippines. He tells News Now's Rebecca Ward that he is concerned the Philippine military is attempting to link all armed rebel groups to the recent spate of bombings and that it is trying to expand its offensive against the Abu Sayyaf to those other groups.

MR. ROCAMORA: So that it is not just the Abu Sayyaf anymore, it is the M-I-L-F, the M-N-L-F, and even the New People's Army. That's worrisome. To me that is a major problem.

MS. WARD: What we have been hearing mostly in the news has been the Abu Sayyaf. They have most recently claimed a kidnapping of a missionary couple and a nurse. So what you are saying is that you believe the Philippine government is hoping to expand this focus, and all under the umbrella of the war on terrorism?

MR. ROCAMORA: There are strong indications that that is what is happening. But a little bit of background first. The Abu Sayyaf is the smallest of the armed Muslim rebel groups in the Philippines. It is also the group that has been quite open about engaging in criminal activities, from extortion leading to arson and bombings, to kidnapping for ransom and things like that. And, in general, as a group, it is politically quite discredited. But they still have some military capability. Altogether, the Abu Sayyaf might be 300 people.

The M-I-L-F, however, is much larger. Its military capability is much bigger. Its political influence is much more secure. It has not been directly linked with criminal activities. And it does have a lot of social support among Muslims in the mainland of Mindanao. But the Philippine military organized a military attack on the MILF during the time of former President Estrada. The new government stopped that and opened peace talks with the MILF. But the MILF remains a very strong armed group, and reliable reports indicate that the MILF leadership thinks that they are the real target of the Philippine military and the U.S. military forces.

MS. WARD: How do the Philippine people feel about the U.S. mission and its training exercises in the Philippines?

MR. ROCAMORA: Because the U.S. military presence in Basilan is linked to the campaign against the Abu Sayyaf, and the Abu Sayyaf is a discredited force that quite openly engages in criminal activities, the people in Basilan are quite happy to have American soldiers there. But there is, at the same time, a large number of organized groups, what we might call the better informed political public, that is very nervous about the possibility that what is ostensibly an effort against a small group, the Abu Sayyaf, is really intended to spill over into a military effort against the M-I-L-F and the other rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front.

And that worries a lot of people, including me, because the M-I-L-F and the M-N-L-F have many, many more men under arms and have strong social support in the Muslim population in the south, in Mindanao. And if indeed those two organizations are targeted for joint military action by the U-S and the Philippine military, then Mindanao will burn. Then you will have a conflagration in Mindanao.

MS. WARD: Getting back to the Abu Sayyaf and the kidnapping, they say they are going to kill the missionaries if their demands are not met. How do you think this will end?

MR. ROCAMORA: The U-S military and the Philippine military are in a bind. The U-S has been in Basilan since January. That is already more than four months. And they have not made any visible progress in going after the Abu Sayyaf, which is a relatively small band of criminals in this tiny island. And the reason is because the Abu Sayyaf holds these hostages. And I can understand that both the U-S government and the Philippine government will maintain a public posture of no negotiations with kidnap gangs, but in fact, what has been going on is that the Philippine government, with the knowledge of the U-S government, has been negotiating with Abu Sayyaf for the release of the hostages. It is just that the negotiations so far have not worked. And a major part of the problem, I would imagine, is that the Abu Sayyaf knows that once they release the hostages, then they will be subjected to massive military attack.

OUTRO: Joel Rocamora of the Institute for Popular Democracy in the Philippines. He spoke to VOA's Rebecca Ward.

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