CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga—Opposition United Nationalist Alliance vice presidential bet Senator Gregorio Honasan II on Tuesday dismissed as “mere psychological warfare” the claim of Moro Islamic Liberation Front Chairman Murad Ebrahim that the Islamic State aims to establish a stronghold in Mindanao.
Honasan, running mate of Vice President Jejomar Binay, said the Palace, and not the Armed Forces, should take the lead in reassuring the public.
“What the MILF is doing to us is a psywar. Let’s just ignore them until we can analyze, confirm, validate and say that the MILF was right, but we are ready,” Honasan told reporters.
“The Palace should step in and check out on this report and reassure the public that the MILF claim was nothing but psywar,” Honasan said.
He said by keeping quiet, the Palace was giving credence to the MILF claim.
Honasan, a former rebel-soldier, said the MILF’s statement could not be taken as a valid warning.
He said the MILF was doing it to make it appear that the rebel group was still a force to reckon with.
“Otherwise, they [MILF] lose their leverage,” he said.
He said the MILF believes it also needs to flex its muscles to gain the respect of the next administration.
“In their minds, if we are not hardline now we might be marginalized again by the next administration,” Honasan said.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines [AFP] earlier played down Murad’s statement.
“We believe up to now that there is no direct verifiable and credible presence of any international groups within the area,” Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, AFP spokesman, said.
Padilla also said the military was not inclined to believe that the frustration over the non-passage of the controversial Palace-drafted Bangsamoro Basic Law will trigger violence in Mindanao.
Honasan said he expected Murad to issue such a statement because the MILF was aggressively pushing for the passage of the BBL.
“Of course, he has to say that because they were pushing for the BBL. You don’t expect them to be happy because the BBL is being dribbled in Congress,” he said.
“But then again if you look at it, it’s the duty of Congress to run this through exhaustive debate because it might violate the Constitution, it might disenfranchise the other communities, not only the Christians, but the lumad, who are located in the same area,” Honasan said.