ZAMBOANGA CITY, P4 January 2007 — Followers of jailed Filipino Muslim leader Nur Misuari yesterday said they want him freed from house arrest in exchange for the defense and military officials they seized on Friday.

The rebels belonging to the Misuari faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) took hostage Defense Undersecretary Ramon Santos, Maj. Gen. Mohamad Dolorfino of the Philippine Marines, and several others after the officials proposed the postponement of a meeting under the aegis of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Jeddah on Feb. 7 and 8.

Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, the Philippine military commander in Western Mindanao, continued to deny that this was a case of hostage-taking. “It’s not true. They (the officials) are there in Jolo to talk about the peace agreement with the MNLF,” he said in a separate interview yesterday.

But Dolorfino, in a telephone interview with Arab News, said they were indeed being prevented from leaving the rebels’ jungle base in Bitan-ag village in Jolo over the issue of the tripartite meeting. “Maybe, we will have to stay here longer (in Jolo Island) unless the tripartite issue is resolved,” he said.

Dolorfino, a Muslim convert, said they were being treated as VIPs but not allowed to leave.

With him are two army colonels, 21 soldiers and the staff of Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza.

MNLF sources on Friday night called this reporter to say that they had decided to take the officials hostage because they were fed up with the continued attempt by the Philippine government to ignore its commitment to the MNLF and the OIC.

Yesterday, Abdurahman Jamasali, an aide to Misuari, told the Manila-based cable news network ANC that they also wanted Misuari freed to lead the MNLF delegation to the tripartite talks in Jeddah. Jamasali said the rebels holding the officials were led by Habier Malik and Khaid Ajibun, Misuari’s key commanders.

Dureza, accompanied by Sulu Gov. Benjamin Loong, who has jurisdiction over Jolo, flew to the island yesterday in a bid to resolve the crisis. He said Manila has agreed to preliminary meetings that will eventually lead to the talks in Jeddah.

Dureza also said Dolorfino’s group is being treated well. “They are all fine and well treated and their only complaint is that it is too cold up there (in the mountains),” he said.

Dureza said he spoke with Malik but refused to give details.

He sent Dolorfino and Ramon Santos, one of his undersecretaries, to meet Malik Friday about development projects for the area as part of a peace deal signed by the MNLF in 1996.

In an interview with Manila-based GMA television later yesterday, Malik denied he was holding the general and the others hostage. “Yesterday we requested them to accept our invitation to stay overnight to continue the discussions because we have to talk about many things,” Malik said, referring to accidental clashes between MNLF rebels and government troops.

Malik later handed the phone to Dolorfino who said: “I just would like to clear it up — that we are not hostages. I believe as soon as they receive the assurance, we will be allowed to leave. We cannot just forcefully leave the camp. We just cooperated with them.”

Dolorfino also told reporters by mobile phone: “It appears that Malik would agree to a revised March 14 date. He just wants a black-and-white copy.”

He did not mention the MNLF’s demand for Misuari’s freedom.

Misuari is under house arrest near Manila on charges of launching an anti-government rebellion five years ago.

Misuari, who led a bloody rebellion for more than 20 years in the southern Philippines, became governor of the five-province (now six) Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) when he signed a peace deal with Manila in September 1996.

But when he fell from grace in 2001 after his people charged him with misgovernance, he renewed his rebellion, accusing Manila of reneging on the peace agreement.

In one of the biggest miscalculations of Misuari’s faction, Malik’s fighters attacked the main military headquarters in Jolo and lost scores of men in a bloody battle that killed more than 100 people.

Misuari then fled to the nearby Malaysian state of Sabah, only to be deported by the Malaysian government to Manila, where he was charged with rebellion and thrown into prison. Last year, however, the government removed him from a police jail upon the intercession of the OIC, which proposed the tripartite meeting involving both the Philippine government and the MNLF. It was the OIC which brokered the peace talks between Manila and the MNLF that led to the 1996 agreement.

Egyptian diplomat Sayed El-Masry, who is adviser to OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, visited Manila and Jolo Island in May last year and asked the Philippine government to honor its commitment under the peace agreement.

The Jeddah meeting was initially set in the third quarter of last year but had been delayed for reasons still unclear. (With input by Agencies)