COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 24, 2014) – A senior leader of the Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front has been arrested by the police in the southern city of Cotabato.
Ustadz Wahid Tundok, a veteran rebel commander, and several of his armed followers were in a truck when flagged down a government checkpoint over the weekend. The MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, said Tundok’s arrest was illegal because he is covered by the cease-fire agreement between the government and the rebel group.
“The arrest is illegal because there is a cease-fire agreement between the MILF and the Philippine government,” MILF Vice Chairman Mohagher Iqbal, who is also the group chief peace negotiator, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
“This needs to be resolved immediately and we are bringing this issue to the highest level of government because we don’t want this issue to affect the peace process,” he said.
Tundok came from a MILF meeting in Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat town and was heading back to his base when intercepted by police forces.
Iqbal said the rebel leader may have been set up and his movements monitored that led to his arrest. “This could be a set up by those who are opposing the peace process,” he said, adding Tundok is a loyal MILF leader and supportive of the peace talks with government.
Iqbal said another MILF commander, Yusoph Kusain, was also killed by police forces in Maguindanao’s Datu Paglas town following a shootout. The police was trying to arrest Kusain on various criminal cases when the fighting erupted.
Police and military said Tundok is facing a string of criminal charges from arson to murder and is one of the most wanted men in the region and also linked to Ustadz Ameril Umra Kato, who led a series of attacks in the past against civilian and military targets in Mindanao.
But Abu Misry Mama, a spokesman for Kato’s group denied the accusation and said Tundok is not a member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement or the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters that the military claimed is behind past attacks in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and North Cotabato.
The Philippine military said Tundok would be accorded due process of law.
“This is part of an effort to bring before the bar of justice those charged of criminal acts so they will be accorded due process of law. The Armed Forces of the Philippines are exerting all efforts toward just and lasting peace in Mindanao. The rule of law must prevail,” said Maj. Gen. Domingo Tutaan, a spokesman for the military forces.
The MILF has been fighting decades for self-determination. (Mindanao Examiner)
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