New video of Zamboanga fighting surfaces, civilian hostages attacked

From the Mindanao Examiner blog site (Oct 19): New video of Zamboanga fighting surfaces, civilian hostages attacked

They were waving white flags and crying for a cease-fire in the middle or a road, many were screaming as shots rang and followed by a random volley of automatic gunfire. Voices can be heard telling a group of civilians to stay put despite the firing and later telling them to hit the ground as the shooting intensify. 

Those were the scenes in a 3-minute video clip taken during a street battle between security forces and separatist Moro National Liberation Front rebels who had taken more than more than 200 civilians and used them as shield in Zamboanga City in September. The horrifying video surfaced on the social networking site Facebook, but it was unknown who uploaded it.

 But while the hostages, numbering about three dozen, were pleading to security forces for a cease-fire, one rebel, clad in military uniform, was also spotted hiding among the group of civilians who continued waving white flags. Other rebels were hiding inside buildings as the video - probably from a cell phone camera - recorded the shootings outside. The area was either Santa Barbara or Santa Catalina village, scenes of deadly clashes.

Cease-fire, cease-fire

“Huwag, huwag doon kayo. Huwag kayong umalis. Diyan kayo, huwag kayong umalis,” a voice in the video can be heard as telling the hostages, some of them minors and women, who were trying to run for cover as the shooting intensified. 

 The hostages were forced to hide behind a jeep, some crawling on their stomach to avoid the whizzing bullets fired by government troops positioned from the end of the road. The captives continue to wave their white flags and shouting “cease-fire, cease-fire,” but the deafening sounds of gunfire drowned their scream.

The rebel, who was hiding among the hostages, ran in a building where his group was hiding. On the road, slippers and bags of clothes of the hostages were scattered and captives were disoriented, crying, screaming and begging for the firing to stop, but the shooting continued. Some of the captives were shouting “cell phone, cell phone, please tawagan ninyo sir,” apparently appealing to rebels to phone  security forces and tell them that they were firing on civilian hostages. 

 One rebel ordered the hostages to stay on the ground. The rebels were talking among themselves in their local dialect, Tausug, and all appeared calm. One rebel fired his bazooka towards the position of government troops, where the firing was emanating. 

It was unknown if any of the hostages were killed in the shooting, but the whole three minute scene in the video showed the safety and lives of the civilians were put on the line. The attack on rebels and their hostages caught on video has put to light a small preview of what really took place during three weeks of street battles between protagonists and antagonists.

 Violence

 The fighting in Zamboanga killed and wounded over 400 people, among them hostages and innocent civilians caught in the violence. More than 100,000 people had fled the fighting and sought refuge in temporary shelters as war ravaged their villages to ashes.

Hundreds of rebels from the provinces of Basilan and Sulu and Zamboanga Peninsula led by Ustadz Khabir Malik stormed Zamboanga after their leader Nur Misuari, who signed a peace deal with Manila in September 1996, accused President Benigno Aquino of reneging on the accord. 

Malik escaped a tight military dragnet in Zamboanga, while Misuari has gone into hiding after close to 300 rebels have surrendered or captured. More than 200 civilian hostages have been freed or escaped during the fighting, but the trauma and terrifying ordeal they went through remain with them.  

Prior to the Zamboanga attack, police in the Muslim autonomous region has said that it is gathering evidence to charge Misuari of sedition because his fiery statements in public meetings and pronouncement against the Aquino government. Police accused the former Libyan firebrand of fomenting sedition in the restive region of Mindanao.

 Investigations into attack, termination of tripartite review of MNLF peace deal

Representative Lilia Nuno, of Zamboanga City, has filed a resolution in Congress to conduct an official inquiry into the atrocious rebel attack. 

Two other lawmakers - Carlos Zarate and Neri Colmenares - have also filed a resolution that would investigate Manila’s decision to terminate the tripartite review of the 1996 government peace agreement with the MNLF. They filed House Resolution 302 directing the Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity to conduct the investigation.

In their joint resolution, the two lawmakers said MNLF spokesman Emmanuel Fontanilla confirmed that rebel forces launched the attacks in Zamboanga City in response to the government’s termination of the tripartite review of the peace deal and to defend their leader from possible arrest following his declaration of Mindanao independence and militarization in areas controlled by rebels in southern Philippines.

The resolution further said that President Benigno Aquino has applied “divide and rule” tactic in dealing with separatist rebels and the ongoing peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the agreement on the Bangsamoro government entity and the disregard to the MNLF peace accord.

Recall note verbale to OIC

In August, a group of senior MNLF leaders have passed a resolution asking the Aquino government to recall its note verbales with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for the closure of the tripartite review of the peace accord. It was signed by signed by Abebakrin Lukman and Abuamri Tadik, both acting secretaries of the MNLF Senior Leaders’ Forum and attested by Yusop Jikiri, its presiding chairman.

The former rebel leaders said they would only support the peace process as long as the Aquino government agreed on their condition to recall two diplomatic communications sent by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on January 30 and March 21 this year.

The two diplomatic communications also sparked a widespread condemnation from Misuari, who repeatedly threatened to secede after accusing Manila of failing to honor provisions of the peace deal.

The OIC helped broker the peace talks between the MNLF and the Philippines that led to the eventual signing of the agreement. Misuari said it has been three decades now since the OIC mediated in the peace talks, but Manila has failed to comply with the provisions in the accord. 

Misuari has repeatedly accused the Aquino government of trying to abrogate the peace accord. He also denounced the peace talks between the Aquino government and rival rebel group MILF after peace negotiators signed an accord last year that would create a new Bangsamoro state. Misuari said the new deal violates the 1996 peace accord.

The Muslim homeland would replace the existing Muslim autonomous region which is composed of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao provinces, including the cities of Marawi and Lamitan. And several more areas in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato would also be included in the new autonomous region.

2nd time

After the 1996 peace accord with the MNLF, Misuari became the governor of autonomous region. But many former rebels were disgruntled with the accord, saying, the government failed to uplift their standards of living. The rebels accused Manila of failing to develop the war-torn areas in the South, which remains in mired in poverty, heavily militarized and dependent financially on the government.

In November 2001, on the eve of the elections in the Muslim autonomous region, Misuari again accused the government of reneging on the peace agreement, and his followers launched a new rebellion in Sulu and Zamboanga City, where more than 100 people were killed.

Misuari escaped by boat to Malaysia, but was arrested there and deported to the Philippines. He was eventually freed in 2008 after Manila dropped all charges against him for lack of sufficient evidence. He was also ousted by Muslimin Sema, the MNLF Secretary-General, but Misuari maintained that he is the true leader of the former rebel group.

Misuari ran for governor in Sulu province three times and failed. He again ran for governor in the Muslim autonomous region in May this year, and also failed.

 





Several screen shots from a video of September fighting between security and rebel forces in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines. Images show civilian hostages waving white flags and how they scampered for safety after troops fired at them, and one rebel aiming his bazooka towards troops at the end of the road in the village.

http://mindanaoexaminer.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-video-of-zamboanga-fighting.html