MNLF'S 'UNLI' SUPPLY EXPLAINED | Guns, ammo landings on Zambo started January

From InterAksyon (Oct 1): MNLF'S 'UNLI' SUPPLY EXPLAINED | Guns, ammo landings on Zambo started January

Authorities on Tuesday shared a possible explanation for the question that had puzzled everyone during the 20-day siege of Zamboanga city: why did the Moro rebels not seem to run out of ammo?

The answer, as the military pieced together after debriefing arrested followers of Nur Misuari, was this: his faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) had started to ship in guns and ammunition undetected into Zamboanga City as early as January this year.

Police gave Zamboanga's lengthy coastline as an excuse for failing to detect such months-long arms landing. But there was one other puzzle they could not yet full account for: if "alert" military teams had foiled an attempt by these well-armed men to march to Sulu's provincial capitol and make a show of force there, days before the Zamboanga siege began Sept. 9, why were they unable to stop the men from landing on the city, 30 hectares of which were laid to waste in an orgy of arson and hostage-taking?

The officials said Tuesday the security forces had, in fact, foiled boatloads of MNLF followers from landing on Sulu and naval forces engaged them at sea.

Meanwhile, the huge cache of weapons and ammo that had puzzled everyone was explained thus by Deputy Chief for Operations Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas Jr. in a news briefing Tuesday at Camp Crame: “Well, [in our] debriefing [of those who surrendered from] MNLF, they prepared for this since January; nagpasok na sila slowly ng baril sa Zamboanga. Tapos nakita naman natin sa haba ng shoreline ng Zamboanga it’s really hard to detect people coming from Basilan and Jolo.”

Authorities had been stunned by the powerful arms and abundant supply of ammunition  the MNLF had in nearly three weeks of intense fighting with government forces. The rebels also used mortars and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG).

When the first skirmishes took place in Barangays Rio Hondo and Sta. Catalina, military public affairs head Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala had admitted that the military monitored movements of MNLF forces in Basilan and Sulu three days before they arrived in Zamboanga. However, neither the military nor the police could explain why they were unable to check the MNLF mobilization in the city, which, as it turned out, would be a full-blown siege of Zamboanga.

Departures from Jolo, Sulu, Basilan monitored

“Actually, [we were able to monitor the MNLF men's departures from Jolo, Sulu and Basilan]. In fact, the first encounter took place the day before at sea, when they were intercepted by our  Navy.  There was fighting even before they arrived sa Zamboanga,” Rojas said.

It was learned that a member of the Naval Special Operations Group (NAVSOG) was killed and two others wounded in that sea encounter.

Earlier, also, according to Rojas, Misuari and his followers tried but failed to take control of Jolo, the main seat of Sulu province, even before they went to Zamboanga.

For Misuari men's failure to take Jolo, Rojas credited two things: the preparedness of the [military and police], and the provincial government "And second, Governor [Abdusakur] Tan [helped a lot in repelling them]. They refused to allow the MNLF's planned march in Jolo itself." He noted that "Jolo ay balwarte ni [is the bastion of] Misuari," but the latter failed to have his men march there "because the people and government of Sulu don’t like that,” Rojas said.

Why Misuari and his men eventually made it to Zamboanga City without being stopped is something that the authorities have yet to really figure out or explain, meantime.

Rojas said the “worst scenario” would have been for the MNLF forces to march on Zamboanga's streets with their firearms and plant their “flag of independence”.

Clearing operations ongoing

Meanwhile, Rojas said massive clearing operations to weed out unexploded ordnance continues, and that  “about 50 percent has been cleared” of MNLF forces in the constriction” areas.

The places that saw intense fighting were Barangays Sta. Barbara, Sta. Catalina, Mampang, Rio Hondo, Kasangyanan, Talon-Talon, Mariki, among others.

About 96 percent of life in Zamboanga has returned to normal, per Rojas. “People can go on their lives. Businesses are opening. Classes are opening. The curfew has been shortened from 8 p.m.-5 a.m. to 10 p.m.-4 a.m. So, hopefully we can have 100-percent normalcy in the week or the next weeks,” he said.

Authorities have divided the clearing operations into four sectors, a, b, c and d. “Each sector has a commander. We retained the original number of soldiers and policemen. But this time the police is spearheading the operations. It has to be house-to-house, block-by-block, room-by-room; we employ bomb sniffing dogs to detect improvised explosive devices. We have already recovered a lot of unexploded hand grenades,” he said.

The clearing operations are estimated to take two weeks; “then after two weeks we will assess.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/71872/mnlfs-unli-supply-explained--guns-ammo-landings-on-zambo-started-january