ZAMBOANGA CITY, 3 February 2007 — Disgruntled Muslim rebels who signed a peace agreement with Manila in 1996 have taken hostage senior military and defense officials and soldiers in Jolo Island, about 950 km south of the Philippine capital.

Held hostage were Defense Undersecretary Ramon Santos, Maj. Gen. Mohamad Dolorfino of the Philippine Marines, Cols. Davy Ramon and Sibayan of the Philippine Army, along with 21 soldiers and staff of presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza, rebel sources told Arab News.

The officials were being held by members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) at a jungle rebel base in Bitan-ag village near Panamao town, a stronghold of rebel group in Jolo island.

Negotiations are going on for the release of the hostages held by hundreds of rebels under Habier Malik and Khaid Ajibun, Arab News learned.

Dolorfino’s group flew to Jolo yesterday morning for a meeting with the MNLF leaders, but had been taken captive later in the day when the rebels were incensed by the delegation’s proposal to postpone a scheduled tripartite meeting involving the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Philippines and MNLF in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 6-8.

Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, denied that any hostage-taking happened.

Dureza confirmed that Dolorfino’s group were in Bitan-ag village but said he was awaiting confirmation of the report. “They are sleeping by now in Bitan-ag. We will have validated reports in the morning,” he said.

The OIC brokered the peace talks between Manila and the MNLF until an agreement was signed in September 1996. But the MNLF, a decade after the peace accord, accused the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of failing to honor the agreement.

Muslimen Sema, MNLF secretary-general and also mayor of Cotabato City, has previously accused the government of failing to honor some provisions in the peace deal and also told this to the OIC representatives, led by international human rights expert Egyptian Sayed El-Masry, who is adviser to OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who visited Jolo island in May last year.

“We told the OIC mission about the failure of the government to fully implement the 1996 peace agreement and many of our members are disgruntled about this,” Sema said.

Nur Misuari, chieftain of the MNLF, signed a peace deal with Manila in September 1996, ending more than 20 years of bloody fighting in the southern Philippines.

After the peace agreement was signed, Misuari became the governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Despite the accord, there was widespread disillusionment with the weak autonomy they were granted.

Under the peace agreement, Manila would provide a mini-Marshal Plan to spur economic development in Muslim areas in the south and livelihood and housing assistance to tens of thousands of former rebels to uplift their poor living standards.

The government later granted autonomy to five Muslim provinces in the south called the autonomous region.

But many former rebels were disgruntled with the accord, saying, the government failed to comply with some of its provisions and uplift their standards of living. Some of them have joined either the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), now the country’s largest separatist group, or the smaller and ruthless Abu Sayyaf group.

Muslims in the south are most likely to fight for or support an armed separatist front when they perceive no alternative means to overcome discrimination and improve their living conditions.

In November 2001, on the eve of the ARMM elections, Misuari accused the government of reneging on the peace agreement, and launched a new rebellion in Jolo island and Zamboanga City, where more than 100 people were killed.

Misuari is facing trial on rebellion charges. The OIC had said it wanted Misuari released from jail to head the MNLF delegation to Saudi Arabia for the tripartite meeting.

“What we need now is the religious implementation of the peace agreement, so we can realize permanent peace and progress in the southern Philippines. The region is neglected, the Muslims are discriminated and many live in poverty. We need to rebuild everything, social and physical infrastructure are important to sustain the little peace that is left,” Sema said.

Masry said after his visit last year to Jolo that Manila and MNLF must sit together and discuss the problems affecting the implementation of the peace accord. He said the proposed tripartite meeting in Saudi Arabia is important for the Philippines and the MNLF to finally settle the problems.

The OIC delegation was sent to the southern Philippines following the 32nd Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICEM) at Sana’a Yemen in 2005 to check on the status of the remaining implementation requirement for peace accord.

In 2006, more than 1,400 disgruntled MNLF members in Mindanao threatened to abandon the 1996 peace agreement they signed with Manila after accusing the government of reneging on its pact with the former separatist rebel group.

“MNLF commanders all over Mindanao are getting restless over the perceived failure of the government to fulfill its obligations. I am afraid that if the government does not take this seriously, the negative sentiments of our armed combatants can run out of proportion and might lead to eventual abandonment of the agreement,” Sema said.

The MNLF also boycotted the ARMM elections in 2005 after the government supported Maguindanao town mayor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, a staunch ally of President Arroyo, instead of MNLF candidates.