MILF ‘intrusions’ alarm Zamboanga City mayor

Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.  AP FILE PHOTO

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar has sounded the alarm on what she called “disturbing intrusions” by members of the  the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in at least two outlying villages on the city’s west coast.

But an MILF official played down the alleged intrusions, saying the men had every right to be in those places, were unarmed and were peaceful.

“We have brought once again to the attention of the OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process) a very disturbing report of intrusions of alleged MILF members,” Salazar told a news conference here on Tuesday.

She said the first incident took place July 31 in Barangay Baluno where the MILF men told villagers they intended to get mineral samples and that they “were already given the authority to mine in any part of Mindanao.”

The second alleged intrusion, according to Senior Supt. Angelito Casimiro, happened the following day when around 30 Visayan-speaking MILF members arrived in Barangay Tagasilay.

He said villagers told authorities that the MILF members, all sporting red headbands, said they were in the area to visit a village official whose son was getting baptized.

Casimiro said the authorities were still trying to ascertain the identities of the men who went to Tagasilay.

Salazar said she immediately informed Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita Quintos-Deles about the incidents and that Deles agreed the alleged intrusions were “unacceptable and nowhere allowed or authorized under the peace agreement.”

She said Deles also vowed to look into the incidents.

But Mohagher Iqbal, head of the MILF panel of negotiators, said there was nothing wrong about the MILF men in the city.

“They are free to move around and visit their family members or relatives,” he said in a telephone interview.

With respect to the claim that the MILF men went to Baluno to get mineral samples, the issue could be effectively addressed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Iqbal said.

But from all indications, he added, there was “nothing illegal” about the arrival of MILF men in Zamboanga City.

“They were not violent and they did not carry guns. So there was nothing to be alarmed of,” he said.