From the Manila Bulletin (Oct 5): Bombs seized in Misuari’s home
Explosives, bomb components, firearms, and vital documents were seized yesterday when police and military swooped down on the Zamboanga City residence of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari yesterday morning.
Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesman for the Zamboanga Peninsula Police, said the raid was conducted at 4 a.m. in Barangay San Roque, Zamboanga City.
Misuari was nowhere in the house but security forces arrested a Malaysian and a suspected MNLF fighter during the raid. Huesca declined to identify them.
Documents To Link Nur To Zambo Siege
Officials said the documents seized during the raid are enough to link Misuari to the Sept. 9 attack in Zamboanga City that led to an almost three-week standoff and left more than 200 people dead.
Huesca said the pieces of evidence found during the raid will be turned over to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
He said the raid was carried out to gather more pieces of evidence against Misuari, who was charged Thursday with rebellion and violation of international humanitarian law under Republic Act 9851 in connection with the MNLF attack in Zamboaga City.
Huesca declined to give further details on the seized documents.
New Charges Eyed
He added that these will be used to bolster the case against the former MNLF chief as the Philippine National Police (PNP) is also contemplating on filing additional charges against Misuari.
Reports said a joint police and military team that conducted the raid used an “explosive” to breach the gate to the former MNLF’s chair’s house.
But Huesca explained, “hindi naman matatawag na explosive yun, ang ginamit natin ay access or special charge.”
When asked to explain what’s in a “special charge,” Huesca said: “Ang main component po niyan tubig, may konting explosive para itutulak niya yung tubig at yun yung mag-push sa gate para ma-open.”
Mild Panic
The loud explosion caused by the “special charge” sent hundreds of people in San Roque and in the adjacent villages in mild panic.
People living as far as five kilometers were also roused from sleep by the loud explosion, thinking a fresh attack might have been launch by the MNLF in the city.
Newsmen who rushed to the site after hearing the loud explosion were allegedly insulted by newly installed Zamboanga City police chief, Senior Supt. Dennis Basngi, for no apparent reason.
Coddlers Warned
Meanwhile, MalacaƱang warned Misuari’s coddlers that appropriate charges will be filed against them.
“There are offenses that have already been laid out relevant to penal laws when it comes to obstruction of justice as well as other relevant offenses,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said yesterday.
We will make sure that all of those involved will be given a fair trial, Valte said.
http://www.mb.com.ph/bombs-seized-in-misuaris-home/
Had they been given self-rule by the United States, they would have formed their own government by now, and perhaps, Mindanao would have been better governed than Luzon and Visayas to this day. But there is no way to ascertain this; it did not happen.
In the current stage of the government-MILF peace negotiation, much of which are devoted to discussion of natural resources in the seas and waters, which used to be the lakes of the Moros especially the Sulu Sea and Moro Gulf, including the Illana (Iranun) Bay. Moro ethnic identities are associated with waters; for instance, Tausog means “people of the current”; Maranao, “people of the lake’; and Maguindanao, “people of the flooded plain”. “Mindanao” was also coined from the same root word,”danao”, which means flooded or inundated. Hence, Mindanao is a place which is flooded and inundated. That place was and still is in Cotabato City now. It is also this waters that had given them feathers in the cap as masters of the seas, or more pejoratively as “pirates”. (During earlier times especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, there had been no dividing line between legitimate trade and piracy).
Given these facts of history and being part of the patrimony of the Moros, it is very hard to imagine that they will not be given a share of the natural resources found in and beneath the Sulu Sea and Moro Gulf. After all, both the territory of the Bangsamoro defined in the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the doctrine of ancestral domain included the land mass as well as the maritime, terrestrial, fluvial and alluvial domains, and the aerial domain and the atmospheric space above it.
This is one aspect of the negotiation which the MILF wants to improve on what the MNLF had forgotten or failed to secure for our people. The issue of waters is never part of the GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement of 1996. Nur Misuari, who claimed to be a Tausog and as such has bigger claim thereof, had either forgotten this or found this issue hard to argue and assert, much less to get.
Be this as it may, we still believe that under the current administration that such deprivation would not happen. We have high regard for the high sense of justice of President Benigno Aquino III. His daang matuwid or straight path policy has core values that are antithesis to cheating people. A share of these resources is the best gift that President Aquino can give to our people. This they will value and remember forever!
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/editorial/item/585-gift-to-our-people