MANILA, 8 February 2007 — The Philippines rejected calls for a military strike against Muslim guerrillas who held a team of peace negotiators hostage in the southern Philippines, but said it will ask the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to sanction the group.
Presidential Executive Secretary Eduar-do Ermita said the government intends to report to the OIC the full details of the hostaging of the negotiators by a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) loyal to Chairman Nur Misuari. “The OIC may have to discipline the rebel group, particularly its commander Ustadz Habier Malik,” Ermita said on television.
“Malik should not dictate to the government,” he added, referring to Malik’s demands for the release of Misuari and the firing of presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza.
Malik wanted Dureza replaced for expressing dismay over the hostaging of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Muhammad Dolorfino, Peace Process Undersecretary Ramon Santos and several others last weekend in the southern island of Jolo.
Dolorfino and company visited the MNLF jungle camp in Panamao town of Jolo last Friday to discuss preparations for their planned tripartite meeting in Jeddah with the OIC. But when the team sought the postponement of the meeting, which was scheduled Feb. 8-9, Malik got incensed and refused to let them go. The negotiators were freed after two nights when Dureza intervened.
The hostaging incident sparked calls for military action against Malik’s group, whose presence in Jolo had been interfering with the government’s US-backed military offensive against Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah militants and their local allies, the Abu Sayyaf.
But President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s spokesman, in a separate interview, said the government had no plans for a military action.
“There is no sense at all to cave in to harangues for the government to strike at the MNLF in Sulu in retribution. The government shall not act irresponsibly in a manner that will set back our hard won gains,” Ignacio Bunye said.
The presidential palace said a military action would only set back the gains achieved with the signing of a peace agreement in 1996 between Manila and Misuari’s group.
Dolorfino, a convert to Islam and the military commander for metropolitan Manila, also rejected suggestions to file criminal charges against Malik, saying he did not want to derail the peace process.
He was quick to emphasize that he was not held hostage by Malik’s men and even said he was planning to go back to Mount Bitan-ag, the rebel camp, to continue peace talks with Malik’s group.
“We plan to take advantage of the situation, next time we will return to (Mount Bitan-ag). As a warrior of peace, like any other warrior, I’m not afraid to go to war. I’m fighting for peace,” he said. The officials did not say if they would release Misuari, who wants to lead the MNLF team in the tripartite talks rescheduled in Jeddah next month.
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 six-province 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 own people charged him with misgovernance, he renewed his rebellion, accusing Manila of reneging on the peace agreement.
