DAVAO CITY, 21 July — Supporters of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Nur Misuari yesterday filed a complaint against police who raided his residential compound in Zamboanga City on Thursday.
The raid drew the ire of members of Misuari’s Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) faction, who said the raid was a blatant violation of the peace pact signed between the group and the government in 1996.
Mahindra Madjilon, Misuari’s spokesman for the ARMM, said the raid seem to be part of a demolition job to kick Misuari out of the MNLF struggle for a meaningful autonomy in the south.
Interior Secretary Jose Lina welcomed the filing of criminal charges, stressing that the MNLF has every right to file criminal charges if it feels that rights violations were committed by the raiding team.
Lina, who was here in Davao City yesterday, insisted, however, that the raid was legitimate since it was covered by a search warrant issued by Judge Jesus Carbon.
The object of the warrant was Misuari’s caretaker Asah Asmawil.
“The MNLF should bear in mind that it was not Misuari who was the subject of the raid but Asmawil, so there is no need to argue about Misuari here,” Lina said.
He said it was coincidental that the operation was conducted at the ARMM governor’s compound. The raid yielded ammunition for high-powered firearms.
In Manila, Senate president pro tempore Blas Ople asked the government to go slow in its operations against suspected gunrunners allegedly linked to Misuari.
Ople said he was filing a resolution calling for a probe of alleged rights abuses committed by the police and the military against suspected Abu Sayyaf members and sympathizers.
Ople said he wants the Senate blue ribbon and defense and security committees to hold hearings in Basilan and Sulu.
He warned of “dire consequences” if the government continued to give the impression that it was “persecuting” Misuari in its efforts to bring peace and development to Muslim areas in Mindanao.
He recalled that Misuari had threatened to resume the MNLF’s war with the government if the latter continued to persecute him.
In Zamboanga, Undersecretary Abraham Iribani of the DILG asked the Southern Command to conduct a separate investigation into the raid on Misuari’s compound. (INS)
