Nograles: Iqbal and Murad had no travel records outside PHL

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 17): Nograles: Iqbal and Murad had no travel records outside PHL

Davao City Congressman Karlo Alexei Nograles on Tuesday said that based on records of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), both Al Hajj Murad Ebrahim and Mohaguer Iqbal have no travel records outside the Philippines.

"It is hard to believe they did not travel because as I recall both Murad and Iqbal went to Malaysia and Japan to meet with our government counterparts in the peace panel. But as far as the Bureau of Immigration is concerned those two have no travel records outside the Philippines. So they must be traveling under different names", Nograles said.

The House senior leader said that the national government is placed at a disadvantage under the peace agreement, as those who signed on behalf of the MILF were people signing under illegitimate names without any accountability.

"Is it legally binding on the MILF if their representative signs with a fake name? What other concealment, deceptions and hidden secrets are behind the peace agreement? No wonder our officials in the Bureau of Immigration could not find any travel records belonging to Mohagher Iqbal because that is not his real name. So please tell us for the sake of transparency what is the real name of Mohagher Iqbal?" Nograles said.

Nograles said that if Murad and Iqbal used false identities in signing an official government document, this was a gross and serious misrepresentation that rendered the peace agreement highly questionable and fraudulent.

He said that apart from entering into a peace agreement with foreign nationals, what's even more disturbing is the revelation by no less than government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer that the government has been dealing all along with people who are carrying fictitious names.

If this is true, the chairman of House committee on Labor said the peace agreement that was signed by government peace negotiators and their counterparts from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is not legally binding because the name of MILF peace panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal is fictitious and non-existent.

"It is very discomforting to be told by no less than the government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer that government has always known that Mohagher Iqbal is not a real name," Nograles said.

"Are you implying that Congress has always known this? Are you saying Congress is estopped? We do not agree. I'm sorry to say but for most if not all of my colleagues in Congress this is a new revelation. And for the general Filipino public we have always in good faith believed that when our government peace panel say that they are dealing with someone named Mohagher Iqbal we take that as a guarantee that this is his real name," he said.

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