‘He has done very bad for siding with the enemy’
The Palace on Tuesday fended off scathing criticism about its handling of the Sabah crisis, saying it had done all it could to bring it to a peaceful end, but Moro leader Nur Misuari blasted President Benigno Aquino III for “siding with the enemy of his people.”
“What kind of leader are you when you abandon your people?” said Misuari, former chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front. “If the President has nothing to say, he should not open his mouth anymore.”
Filipino Muslims protest in front of the Malaysian Embassy in Makati against the assault on the Filipinos in Sabah. DANNY PATA
“What he has done is very bad,” he added. “It is unbecoming for a head of state to be siding with the enemy of his own people. These are his own people. I don’t know who is advising him and for what reason. He is aligning this country with Malaysia, a colonial power occupying the land of our people. I am against that, totally against that.”
Misuari also warned Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak against killing the sultan’s followers and harming Filipino civilians in Sabah.
“Once you do that, that will be tantamount to declaration of war against our people and the Moro National Liberation Front. It is our sacred duty to protect our people. Every drop of their blood is sacred to us,” he said.
On the government’s threat to arrest and charge the Sabah intruders if they return to the country, Misauri said: “Let them do that. The country will be in total chaos, I promise you.”
Former Tawi-Tawi governor Al Tillah also slammed Malacanang’s reluctance to bring the Sabah crisis to the international community, saying President Aquino’s stand smacked of a sellout, not only of the Sultanate of Sulu but also of the entire Filipino people.
“What did President Aquino trade to gain this peace process with our brothers in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front championed by Malaysia?” Tillah said.
“The Muslim Filipinos are just defending their historic rights. There is no rebellion against existing authorities,” he said in support of the sultanate.
In Makati City, militant groups protested in front of the Malaysian embassy to call for an end to the violence in Sabah and urged the government to give priority to resolving the crisis.
The picket, led by members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Migrante, Katribu, Bayan Muna, and the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy, forced the embassy to close its gates past 10 a.m. and suspend its operations temporarily.
The protesters carried placards condemning the bloodbath and ongoing violence that left at least 20 Filipinos dead and many others wounded. They also urged President Aquino to defend the country’s national sovereignty and the welfare of the Filipinos in Sabah.
Migrante chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado scored “the government’s passivity and inaction” on the Sabah standoff and its inability to avert bloodshed.
Tony Liongson of the Moro Christian People’s Alliance, condemned the “wrong position” taken by President Aquino on the crisis.
“His decisions showed that he could not protect the interest of the Filipino people,” Liongson said.
Of the 235 followers that joined Kiram’s brother, Agbimuddin, in Sabah, Misuari admitted that some were “MNLF freedom fighters” but he did not say whether his men were among those who were killed.
Mr. Aquino has earlier called the armed incursion in Sabah as a “foolhardy” and “hopeless” undertaking by the Kirams.
Also on Tuesday, former national security adviser Norberto Gonzales said the Aquino administration failed miserably in the way it handled the crisis, saying the government underestimated Kiram and his followers.
“This is too bad. They failed miserably in handling this. Malaysia is taking cue from us, and because the government has shown that it does not really care for the sultanate, that it does not give the sultanate importance, then why should Malaysia think twice about attacking the followers of the Sultan?” Gonzales said.
“They did not give the sultanate any way out for compromise. First the government says they should surrender. Then the government warns them they would be arrested once they return to the Philippines,” he said.
After the fighting started, the government is now saying it is beyond them to help the Kirams because that is already in the hands of Malaysia, he said.
Gonzales, who spoke with the sultan Sunday, said the first step the government should have taken was to give due recognition to Kiram and “what he represents.”
“I think this government is afraid of Malaysia. This government is afraid to take a definite stand. That is why they are leaving it up to Malaysia to settle this,” he added.
In a separate briefing at the Palace, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the government’s concern now is the 800,000 Filipinos in Sabah who have nothing to do with the standoff.
“They have chosen the path of violence. They have chosen to defy authorities. So, our responsibility right now is for the 800,000 Filipinos and the 95 million Filipinos here in the Philippines,” he said of the sultan’s followers who were battling Malaysian security forces in Sabah.
Lacierda made the statement after he was asked if the Kirams and their followers were now on their own in Malaysia.
Earlier, the President blamed unnamed members of the previous administration for conniving with the sultan to create the current crisis. He also justified Malaysia’s violent response against Kiram and his followers in Sabah.
Misuari on Tuesday dismissed speculation that he financed the sultan’s Sabah incursion.
“If indeed, I am that well off, why should I finance the adventure of the sultan’s men? Only about 200 people…. That’s not my way of doing things,” he said.
Misuari said that as leader of the MNLF, he was able to mobilize 4,000 fighters in the hunt for the Abu Sayyaf bandits who held several foreigners hostage in Mindanao.
He said he deployed an even larger force during the Sipadan hostage-taking incident in April 2000 after being tapped by then President Joseph Estrada.
“So, for anyone to speculate that I have anything to do with this is a kind of madness. It is very irresponsible for anybody to implicate me in this,” he said.
Earlier, Lacierda said the President has been informed of the Malaysian airstrikes, and said he was leaving it up to the Foreign Affairs Department to verify information about the attacks and the fatalities.
“I think everyone knows that we have done everything possible and we continue to do everything possible to peacefully end this standoff. Unfortunately, the position taken by the Kiram family is a position that leads down to violence,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda said the Palace had sent emissaries to the Kiram family since the standoff started, including Presidential Adviser On Political Affairs Ronald Llamas and National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia.
Police Director Cipriano Querol and ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman who are both Muslims, were also sent to convince the Kiram family to send their followers back to the Philippines.
Lacierda said the government’s appeal fell on deaf ears.
Lacierda also twitted Gonzales for denying his involvement in the Sabah crisis, saying the Palace had not mentioned his or anybody else’s name when it spoke of a conspiracy.
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/03/06/misuari-blasts-aquino/
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