MILF men land on list of ARMM OICs

COTABATO CITY—The Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Friday demanded that the names of two of its leaders and two consultants be stricken off a list of supposed applicants for the position of acting governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The names of Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF political affairs chief, and Ustadz Abdulaziz Mimbantas, the MILF’s military affairs chief, turned up on the list of at least 200 applicants for various positions in the ARMM.

Also on the list are lawyer Michael Mastura and Hadji Abdullah Camlian, members of the MILF peace panel.

“We are against the inclusion of our names on the list because we have not applied for that appointive post and never shall we accept it even if these are offered to us,” Jaafar said, reacting to the list.

Ali Macabalang, director of the ARMM Public Information Bureau, said the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), which is under the Office of the President, released the list last Aug. 23.

Abigail Valte, one of President Aquino’s spokespersons, said Malacañang didn’t know how the names of the MILF leaders made it to the list.

“We will check how the four names went into the list,” said Valte. “It could be that there were others who nominated them,” she said.

“If they don’t want these four to be nominated, or if these four don’t want their nomination, if they don’t want to go through the process, it wouldn’t be a problem,” she added.

Jaafar said he and Mimbantas were not aspiring to be acting governor of ARMM.

Michael Mastura, former Maguindanao congressman, also denied having manifested his desire, either to the Department of Interior and Local Government or Malacañang, to become officer-in-charge of the autonomous region.

Jaafar said since members of the MILF do not recognize the ARMM and the Constitution, it would be absurd and “politically incorrect” for any of them to aim for the region’s top executive post.

“Stop this chicanery. In the name of truth, fairness and civility, the names of Mimbantas, Jaafar, Mastura, and Camlian should be stricken off the list immediately,” said Maulana Alonto, a member of the MILF peace panel.

Haroun Alrashid Lucman Jr., regional interior and local government secretary, said the PMS list showed 60 candidates for appointment as acting governor.

The others on the list, aside from the MILF leaders, include former ARMM governor Zacaria Candao, former congressmen Pax Mangudadatu and Didagen Dilangalen, Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, Tocao Mastura and Cotabato City Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema, supposedly representing the Moro National Liberation Front.

A new law suspended elections set in September for ARMM and allowed President Aquino to appoint officers-in-charge for various positions in the region, including that of governor.

The move, Palace officials initially said, was meant to institute radical election reforms in the region that became notorious for poll fraud.

Some individuals, however, linked the move to attempts by the Aquino administration to dangle an expanded autonomy to the MILF in place of the rebel demand for a sub-state, which would require amendments to, if not a new, Constitution. Charlie C. Señase and Edwin O. Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao