Lacson questions Iqbal’s use of alias in signing official documents

Former Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Former Senator Panfilo Lacson on Friday added his voice to those questioning Mohagher Iqbal’s use of a nom de guerre, and said the Moro rebel group’s chief peace negotiator may be legally liable and face jail time for signing official documents using an alias.

Lacson, in a radio interview, said Iqbal would need judicial authority to use his chosen alias in official documents. Without this, he might be imprisoned and fined under the law regulating the use of aliases, he said.

“If he can show a court order and he went through the judicial process allowed under the law… to use the name he used to sign, ‘Iqbal,’ then there would be no problem,” he said in the radio interview.

He also warned that Iqbal’s signature on documents pertaining to the peace agreement with the government, as well as in other transactions, might be invalidated.

If the government’s peace negotiators had known that Iqbal was not using his real name, they might also be accountable, according to Lacson.

He said that if the President’s peace adviser Teresita Deles and chief peace negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer knew of Iqbal’s use of an alias, they should have advised him to use his real name right from the start of the negotiations.

Iqbal earlier explained that it was natural for a rebel to use a nom de guerre, and pointed out that other Philippine revolutionaries had resorted to the practice.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front identifies itself as a revolutionary group and had said it would remain so until its peace agreement with the government is fully implemented.

Iqbal had also said his real name was known to the Department of Foreign Affairs which had issued him a passport.