DAY 11 | 12th soldier killed, 15 more rebels surrender as fighting resumes in Zambo

From InterAksyon (Sep 19): DAY 11 | 12th soldier killed, 15 more rebels surrender as fighting resumes in Zambo

Amid announcements from authorities that the situation has already started to normalize except in “constricted” areas where the remaining rebels are holding hostages to use as “humans shields,” a 12th soldier was killed as fighting resumed in Barangay Sta. Catalina, Zamboanga City.

In a related development, Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas Jr., operations chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said 15 more fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) surrendered, 10 of them Wednesday night, the rest Thursday morning, in Sta. Catalina. This brought the number of captured or surrendered rebels to 108.

It is estimated that 200 followers of MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari waged the “war for independence.

The military said sporadic fighting started at around 6 a.m. while soldiers were conducting house-to-house search during “clearing operations.” Soon after the fighting broke out, more structures were burning in areas where the operations were underway.

News of the new surrenders came shortly after the death of the soldier was confirmed.
The government led by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have already started to build a case against Misuari and his men, led by his trusted ground commander Habier Malik.

On Wednesday, Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II said a rebellion case against Misuari and his loyalists is “very much possible.”

For her part, Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles of the Office the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) said Misuari and his loyalists may be charged for the “act of rebellion.”

Although she mentioned the word “terrorism,” Deles refrained from directly calling the Zamboanga siege an act of terrorism.

Misuari’s history

In 2001, Misuari led 600 rebels in the Cabatangan siege, also in Zamboanga, which resulted in the death of more than 100 people and the wounding of scores.

Misuari, then a governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), claimed the attack was meant to stop the ARMM elections because the national government did not “consult” him on the process. He was not seeking for reelection that time.

He fled to Malaysia to evade arrest and the government filed criminal charges against him. Also included in the charge-sheet were supposed leaders of the MNLF and Abu Sayyaf, namely Bakil Annay Harun, Johan Sawadjaan San Sanzibar, Akil Abdurahman Abdur, Addin Esquerra Ishmael, Gamar Bin Abd Razak, Omar Bin Abdullah, and Abu Harris Osman.

On 24 November 2001, the Malaysian police arrested Misuari and six followers on Pulau Jampiras in Malaysia's Sabah state. According to the Malaysian police, the place was suspected of having been used as an MNLF training camp.

On 7 January 2002, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamad ordered Misuari deported after six days in jail in Kuala Lumpur for illegal entry.

Misuari was able to haggle for a house arrest. In 2007, but the government ordered him arrested again on charges of terrorism. He was denied the petition for bail on the terrorism charge but the court granted his and his seven co-accused’s bail petition on the rebellion charge releasing them on bail at P100,000 each. Upon instruction of the Cabinet Security cluster, Misuari was allowed to post bail for his terrorism case on 25 April 2008.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/71046/day-11--twelfth-soldier-killed-as-fighting-resumes-in-zambo