MISUARI SICK AND HIDING IN SULU PROVINCE

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari is ill and has holed up in Sulu province.

“We have received information that Misuari is in Sulu and that he is sick. I would not know his sickness, but all we know is that he is somewhere in a municipality and a barangay in Sulu. He is being tracked by our police forces so that he can’t leave there,” he told reporters.

President Benigno Aquino 3rd earlier said that the Department of Justice is readying criminal charges against Misuari and his followers who occupied several barangays in Zamboanga City for two weeks. More than hundred people were killed in the clashes that shut down the city.

He revealed that Misuari duped his followers by telling them that they will be joining a peace rally in Zamboanga City. He also made his troops believe that the UN Peacekeeping Force will give them each a gun and P10,000.

“These people were deceived and misinformed. One of Misuari’s men who surrendered to us is telling us the true story but I can’t name him just yet,” Hataman said.

As of Tuesday, the MNLF rebels are still holding 14 hostages after 16 days of fighting.

Rep. Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City lamented that the fighting had displaced at least 120,000 people.

Lobregat admitted that Zamboanga City is a strategic place for Misuari to launch such an offensive because the city is known for its high economic activity and its coastline stretches for 130 kilometers.

“If they do such a thing in Basilan, Sulu or Tawi-Tawi, nobody from the media will go there to follow them for coverage. Zamboanga, on the other hand, is a stable economic hub”.

“Basically they did it there to get international attention,” he surmised.

Violence is not the answer. So many people have died and the city also lost a lot. Misuari should be charged in court, Lobregat added.

Source: Manila Times