GEN. Carlito G. Galvez Jr. visited on Saturday Camp Darapanan and met with the top leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), making him the first chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to visit the Moro group’s seat of power in Maguindanao.
“Today, I came back to one of the most revered places, a place I can call home because here lives those gallant men I considered my brethren, those whom I had been working with for a peaceful Mindanao,” said Galvez, who met with MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim.
Galvez was joined by other top officials of the military, including those from the Western Mindanao Command, during the visit.
The chief of staff was heavily criticized in 2015 when, as the government representative to the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) with the MILF, he failed to prevent the massacre of 44 members of the police’s Special Action Force.
The police commandos were conducting antiterrorism operations against Malaysian bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and his Filipino cohort Basit Usman when they were ambushed by a combination of MILF fighters, terrorists and members of lawless groups in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
During his meeting with Murad, Galvez conveyed the military’s all-out support to the peace process between the government and the MILF.
“The President is always very supportive and serious in his guidance to the AFP in sealing the peace process here in Muslim Mindanao,” he said, adding that the conflict between the two forces is over.
“Today I can now declare that the war between the Armed Forces and the MILF is finally over,” Galvez added. “To my commanders, let us embrace our brothers and sisters, and give them respect and lasting peace that the Moro people deserve.”
The MILF leadership warmly welcomed the chief of staff, whom it considered its greatest friend in the military.
“General Galvez is well-known among our commanders, the friendship between the MILF and him is already strongly established due to the numerous incidents and challenges in the past that we have jointly faced and solved,” Murad said.
The MILF showed force during the meeting, with about 6,000 of its members lining up both sides of the 5-kilometer road from Cotabato City to Barangay Simuay in Maguindanao.
“We have deployed [our] members as early as seven o’clock in the morning to make sure that nothing could go wrong,” Eduardo Guerra, one of the members of the MILF Central Committee, said. “It is also to show how we treasure the visit of the AFP Chief of Staff in our home.”
The sight of welcoming Moro fighters impressed the chief of staff.
“This is really an amazing gesture of love which I will always treasure and cherish for my lifetime,” he said.