MNLF denies suggestion that pork barrel scam suspects funded Zamboanga attack

From GMA News (Sep 24): MNLF denies suggestion that pork barrel scam suspects funded Zamboanga attack

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) denied any truth to speculations made by two Magdalo party-list lawmakers that suspects in the pork barrel scam could have funded the Zamboanga City siege as a diversion.

"That is a lie. We can never accept funds from a corrupt source," MNLF spokesperson Atty. Emmanuel Fontanilla told GMA News Online in a text message.

He added that the government "has the interest to destroy [us because] we are winning the war in all aspects."

On Monday, Magdalo party-list representatives Gary Alejano and Francisco Ashley Acedillo alleged that at least P40 million was given to the MNLF for the Zamboanga siege, and speculated that the donors might have been involved in the pork barrel funds scam.

"We can say that the financier might come from the people involved in the PDAF [Priority Development Assistance Fund] scam,” Alejano said.

Both lawmakers figured in the November 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.

Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala told GMA News Online that they have not received reports that the MNLF rebels who attacked Zamboanga City were funded by the scam suspects.

"I don't know where they got that," he said in a phone interview.

Zagala refused to elaborate, saying he doesn't want to get involved in these lawmakers' "politics."

"I can only react based on the data that we have. So far, wala kaming ganun," he said.

The MNLF first entered Zamboanga City on Sept. 9 to stake an independence bid there as they accused the government of sidelining a peace agreement it forged with the group in 1996.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/327937/news/nation/mnlf-denies-suggestion-that-pork-barrel-scam-suspects-funded-zamboanga-attack