DOJ panel to pursue raps vs Misuari et al.

MNLF leader Nur Misuari. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has created a panel of prosecutors to pursue the cases of rebellion and violation of international humanitarian law filed against Moro National Liberation Front founding chair Nur Misuari and other MNLF leaders and members who led the bloody attack on Zamboanga City last September.

Misuari is still at large.

The panel with be led by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon, with Zamboanga peninsula Regional State Prosecutor Peter Medalle, Assistant State Prosecutors Aristotle Reyes and Niven Canlapan, and prosecution attorney Cesar Angelo Chavez III as members.

On Oct. 7, the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police filed in the Zamboanga Regional Trial Court cases against Misuari, MNLF commanders Habier Malik, Assamin Hussin and Bas Arki, and 57 other MNLF members who were either captured or who surrendered during or after the attacks.

The Supreme Court, heeding the DOJ’s sppeal, ordered on Oct. 17 the transfer of the cases to a Taguig City court. The DOJ also recommended the transfer of the detained respondents to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

“Our prosecutors have already filed the appropriate manifestation and motion in the Zamboanga RTC to fast-track the transfer of the case records to the Taguig Regional Trial Court,” De Lima told reporters in an interview.