RP FACES SANCTIONS
By Chairmaine C. Deogracias
MUSLIM states sympathetic to the Moro
National Liberation Front (MNLF) are seriously considering haling the Philippines before
the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for alleged war crimes committed against the
Bangsamoro people.
MNLF legal counsel Atty. Macapanton Abbas
told THE MANILA TIMES the Muslim states begun to study this option following the
“soft” stance taken by the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) on the armed
hostilities between the Philippine military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
In a resolution in the just concluded 27th foreign ministers’ meeting of OIC member
countries in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the 56-member organization “urged both the GRP
(Philippine government) and the MILF to end their existing hostilities and reach a
peaceful solution to the current problems in Mindanao.”
Abbas said in a telephone interview, the
MNLF allies were disappointed in that the original draft of the resolution, which
“urged the Philippine government to stop its military offensive against the MILF and
Bangsamoro people,” was not adopted by the OIC foreign ministers.
Two grounds
In view of this development, Abbas said
these OIC members have begun to contemplate imposing sanctions against the Philippines by
filing a case before the ICJ on two grounds:
(a) the
Philippine government’s failure to comply with the 1996 GRP-MNLF peace agreement, and
(b) the Philippine military’s alleged
war crimes (human rights violations and genocide) against the Bangsamoro people.
Abbas declined to identify the Muslim states
sympathetic to the MNLF.
He said final decision on the contemplated
complaints against the Philippines will be made based on the findings of an OIC-organized
fact-finding teams during its visits to Mindanao this month.
The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) said last week it was sending a monitoring team in Mindanao to review
humanitarian aspects on the government’s all-out war against Moro secessionist rebels
in Mindanao.
Foreign Affairs officials, reacting to the
report, said no one can stop individual member countries of the Muslim organization from
pursuing any action against the Philippine government.
They acknowledged that the OIC as a body cannot impose
sanctions against a country, the Philippines in this case, without the full approval of
its members.
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