ZAMBOANGA CITY, 1 February 2007 — An official of the Philippines main Muslim separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said Saudi national Jamal Khalifa, who had been killed by gunmen in Madagascar yesterday, was a philanthropist who had helped thousands of Filipinos.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said Khalifa came to the Philippines at a time when the country was recovering from the debilitating effects of the Marcos regime, coup attempts and natural disasters, and gave hope to countless Filipinos through his humanitarian effort.

“I was shocked to hear that he was killed today. As far as I know, Jamal Khalifa was an Arab philanthropist, who helped built mosques and madrasas and health centers for poor Muslim communities in Mindanao. He was a good man,” Kabalu told Arab News by phone from a rebel base in the main southern island of Mindanao.

Khalifa was reported to have been killed at his home in the African island-nation, where he was engaged in mining and trading of precious stones.

Kabalu said Khalifa came to Mindanao in the 1990s, not to finance the separatist Muslim rebel group or terrorists as charged by the United States government and Philippine military, but to build mosques and schools.

Khalifa also helped set up the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) and the Al-Makdum University in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, while at the same time engaged in various business in Manila and northern province.

Kabalu said Khalifa did visit the main MILF headquarters Camp Abubakar As-Siddique in Maguindanao province and helped finance the building of mosques and health centers. The MILF is engaged in peace talks with the Philippine government and is not considered a terrorist group.

“What we knew about Jamal Khalifa was that he had helped thousands of Filipino Muslims and that even the Philippine government benefited from his being a philanthropist, from all those humanitarian projects,” he said.

Kabalu did not elaborate but Khalifa was known to have contributed to a relief campaign by the government then under President Corazon Aquino when the northern Philippines was hit by a powerful earthquake in 1990 and by the eruption of Pinatubo Volcano in mid 1991.

Khalifa’s Filipino wife was said to be a civil engineer from the province of Bulacan, north of Manila, which is very close to provinces ravaged by the volcanic eruption. One of Khalifa’s projects was to buy tons of vegetable seeds from California, which were distributed by the IIRO not just to Muslim communities but also Christian communities in the north.

Khalifa, however, abandoned his projects after he was arrested in the United States in the mid-90s and deported to Jordan to stand trial on a terrorism charge. He was eventually acquitted and returned to Saudi Arabia.

Khalifa was later accused by Philippine police of using the IIRO and his university as a front to launder money and channel funds to terrorists. He had denied all these. In previous interviews with various media, he said he wanted to return to the Philippines to clear his name, but he was barred from doing so.