MILF leader denies setting up ‘own gov’t,’ collecting drug money

Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters (FILE PHOTO BY JEOFFREY MAITEM/ INQUIRER MINDANAO)

MANILA — A leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has denied President Duterte’s allegations that he had set up his “own government” in Mindanao while collecting protection money from drug lords.

MILF leader Abdullah Macapaar, more known as Commander Bravo, met with Abdullah Mama-o, the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers and Muslim concerns, in Lanao del Sur on Dec. 10 after the President accused him of coddling drug personalities in his stronghold.

In a statement, Mama-o said on Sunday, Macapaar had told him that drug syndicates made up stories about his supposed involvement in the illegal drug trade “to make it appear (I) was setting up a separate government.”

Mama-o said he had arranged a meeting with the MILF commander on orders of Mr. Duterte, who had called Macapaar a “son of a bitch.”

“We held the meeting inside a mosque in his mountain hideout in Lanao del Sur in the presence of his men. Bravo clarified that his operations in the MILF-NWMF (Nortwestern Mindanao Front) were, in fact, in support of the President’s anti-drug war,” Mama-o said.

“He (Bravo) said his command will continue complementing the President’s drive against the scourge of drugs. He also said that he abides by the ongoing peace process between the government and the MILF,” he added.

Two days after their meeting, the Cabinet secretary said he furnished the President a report of his meeting with the MILF leader, who has been accused of receiving money from drug syndicates operating in Metro Manila, Cavite, Batangas, Visayas provinces and other areas.

In 2008, Macapaar joined the then MILF 105th Base Command chief Ameril Umra Kato in attacking communities in Lanao del Norte, after the Supreme Court ruled that the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, which the Arroyo administration entered into with the MILF, was unconstitutional.

The agreement would have been the basis for the creation of a new Bangsamoro juridical entity to replace the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

Last month, Mr. Duterte ordered Mama-o to “get rid” of Macapaar within 20 days as he had already established his own government in Mindanao and was collecting money from drug personalities.

“If you commit a crime there, you will be jailed. He (Macapaar) will arrest you if you are a drug pusher. You just pay him and he will hand you your sentence,” the President said.

Macapaar, he also claimed, pocketed half of the P10,000 fee, which arrested drug offenders paid to the MILF.  SFM