Not an Al Jazeera video; MNLF shot hostages — AFP

From the Daily Tribune (Oct 31): Not an Al Jazeera video; MNLF shot hostages — AFP

Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels were the ones firing at hostages and not the military as claimed by a narrative of cable news outfit Al Jazeera on a video of an incident during the Zamboanga City siege that happened last Sept. 13, so goes the claim of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday.

The AFP claimed fighters of the MNLF faction of Nur Misuari fired at the hostages in the video that was made available in social networking sites following the 20-day siege of Zamboanga City.

Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, AFP-Public Affairs Office chief, stressed the military did not fire at the hostages, whom the government security forces were tasked to rescue by no less then President Aquino.

“The video speaks for itself. We did not fire at the hostages...we were tasked to rescue the hostages, no way will we fire at them,” said Zagala.

In the video, however, the hostages were waving white flags and facing the direction of the column of state forces before scampering away from the direction where the shots were made, clearly  in front of them.

Zagala, however, said the video, believed to have been taken from a cellular phone last Sept. 13 or the fourth day of the siege laid by Misuari followers in Zamboanga City, clearly showed that the firing came near the hostages.

“The hostages were in the middle of Lustre Street, in front of KGK Building which was occupied by the MNLF Misuari factions, while the AFP troops were positioned 200 to 300 meters away,” said Zagala.

“Based on the video, there were audible automatic gun fires which mean they were close,” added Zagala.  

Zagala also criticized The Tribune headline “Al Jazeera video shows military shoot hostages” that came out Wednesday.

“Your title is wrong. The video did not come from Al Jazeera, it is available online,” said Zagala.

The video grab that appeared on the front page of the newspaper, however, clearly had the emblem of Al Jazeera on it.

The military official said that the MNLF Misuari faction actually provoked the military forces to fire at them while they (Misuari followers) were hiding at the middle of the hostages.

“They were firing at us to provoke us but we did not fire...we countered with selective fires against their sniper positions,” said Zagala.

At the same time, Zagala said the military is ready to face any investigation regarding the matter.

“We’re open to that (investigation). The video says clearly that the MNLF Misuari faction fired at the hostages,” stressed Zagala.

Last Sept. 9,  more than 300 members of the MNLF Misuari faction occupied at least six barangays in Zamboanga City and held around 200 civilians as hostages. The government declared the siege over last Sept. 29 after 195 hostages were accounted for.

More than 200 MNLF fighters, 25 government security forces and 12 civilians were killed during the 20-day siege. About 10,000 residential structures were burned down.
President Aquino when asked by an Al Jazeera reporter about the footage during a recent Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) event questioned the authenticity of the video, even hinting that it was an MNLF propaganda material.

Jamela Alindogan, an Al Jazeera reporter, however, related in a story that when he visited one of the alleged hostages in the video Juan Santander Morte, she was told that the video was not fabricated.

Morte himself was hit by a shrapnel on the head and back but he said he doesn’t blame anyone, not even the Philippine military because “everybody is a collateral damage of war.”

Earlier, the Zamboanga siege was described as an intelligence blunder by former Constabulary chief retired Maj. Gen. Ramon Montano and the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

“The whole government intelligence community should commit hara-kiri...they should all commit suicide for this blunder,” Montano told The Tribune.

According to Montano, government authorities underestimated the capability of the MNLF faction of Chairman Nur Misuari, resulting to the Zamboanga City siege.

“Their attitude was to belittle Misuari which is very wrong...and there is no excuse to that,” said Montano.

UNA secretary general Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco also questioned the capability of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to abate acts of terrorism in spite of its hefty intelligence fund.

“The MNLF movements in Zamboanga are a massive failure of intelligence. What happened to the intel budget of the DILG and the Philippine National Police (PNP)? Somebody’s sleeping on the job,” Tiangco said.
http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/not-an-al-jazeera-video-mnlf-shot-hostages-afp