Malik puts up resistance; Palace says enough resources to find Nur

From the Daily Tribune (Sep 26): Malik puts up resistance; Palace says enough resources to find Nur

While Malacañang expressed optimism that normalcy will soon return to Zambo-anga City after the conflict between govern-ment troops and the members of the Moro National Liberation Front-Misuari faction the crisis entered its 17th day yesterday.

MNLF commander Ustadz Habier Malik continued to put up a fight despite prodding from both his men and government security forces to lay down his firearms and sur-render.The Palace also warned the Mus-lim group that the govern-ment has all the resources to arrest and file charges against its founding leader Nur Misuari and his followers who had engaged government troops in a bloody standoff.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda did not say whether the government knows the whereabouts of the Moro leader but he stressed the government has everything at its disposal to arrest Misuari.

The MNLF leader has brushed aside the Aquino government’s threat to file rebellion charges against him. Misuari, who relayed his message to MNLF spokesman Absalom Cerveza, dared the government to arrest him.

“We’ll use our government resources to do the right thing. He’s not Leo DiCaprio to ‘catch me if you can’... we have resources to do that,” Lacierda said, referring to a movie starred by the Hollywood actor.

Lacierda also assured that the Department of Justice is preparing an airtight case against the perpetrators of the attack, including Malik and other MNLF commanders who are still in a standoff with government forces.

“Some forces are trying to test the resolve of this government. This government has all the resources to protect its citizenry... We will defend our people, that’s the mandate of this government, the mandate of the armed forces,” he said.

Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, acting chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)-Public Affairs Office, in a separate interview, said 30 MNLF fighters, supposedly part of Malik’s group, surrendered around 10:30 a.m. yesterday, leaving only a handful of men around the MNLF commander.

“Ustadz Habier Malik was not among those who surrendered. He refused to surrender,” he added.

Malik is reportedly armed with an M-60 light machine gun.

“We encourage him to just surrender... surrendering is an honorable thing. We don’t intend to kill all those going against the government,” Cabunoc stressed.

According to the military official, based on the accounts of one of the 30 surrenderees yesterday, Malik’s men also prodded him to just surrender but he remains committed to fighting.

Cabunoc said the surrender was prompted by hunger.

Malik, he added, is still within the constriction area in the vicinity of barangays Sta. Barbara and Sta. Catalina with less than 10 followers with him.

“We are talking maybe five to 10,” Cabunoc said.

He added based on the statements of some of the hostages rescued last Tuesday from Malik’s group, there are no more hostages being held.

A source, meanwhile, said Malik had already left Zamboanga City as early as Sept. 13 or prior to the launching of military calibrated response against the MNLF.

“There is information saying that Malik is already in Sulu,” the source added.
As the conflict entered its 17th day on Wednesday, the United Nations has officially declared the situation in Zamboanga a “humanitarian crisis.”

Luiza Carvalho, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in the Philippines, noted that the standoff has left some 132 persons dead, 158,000 affected and over 10,000 homes destroyed.

She added about 109,000 are displaced in Zamboanga and almost 19,000 in neighboring Basilan province.

“We are increasingly alarmed by the situation and the growing needs of people caught up with violence,” Carvalho. “We are particularly concerned for the most vulnerable, especially the well-being of women and children.”

The UN official also asked “all parties to uphold the principles of impartiality, humanity, neutrality and independence, enshrined in International Humanitarian Law.”

http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/19541-malik-puts-up-resistance-palace-says-enough-resources-to-find-nur