ZAMBOANGA CITY – Local Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar has vowed to seek justice for victims of a deadly siege by Moro rebels following the release from jail of dozens of gunmen who participated in the 2013 attack.
The Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 158 ordered the release of 96 out of over 200 members of the Moro National Liberation Front rebels who were captured or surrendered to security forces after a plea bargaining agreement between the accused and the Department of Justice.
“The release was a result of the Plea Bargaining Agreement entered into by the Department of Justice and some of the MNLF accused over the objection of the City, which resulted to the lowering of the penalty imposed on the accused since their imprisonment has already exceeded the penalty agreed upon in the Plea Bargaining Agreement,” Salazar said.
“The City Government is saddened by the release of the accused MNLF members but will continue to fight for justice despite the recent order of the Regional Trial Court,” she added.
Salazar also ordered police and military forces to tightened security in Zamboanga following the release of the rebels.
“As City Mayor, I have ordered a thorough review on the security measures and directed the city police and military to closely coordinate with my office. I am still positively hoping that justice will be served to the victims of the Zamboanga siege and the remaining 100 MNLF accused shall be held accountable for the crimes committed,” she said.
MNLF chieftain Nur Misuari is among those facing charges of rebellion and violation of the Philippine Act on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes against Humanity, but President Rodrigo Duterte is protecting him.
Some 300 of Misuari’s loyal followers from Basilan and Sulu provinces arrived by boats in Zamboanga and then attacked several villages, sparking house to house fighting with rebels taking dozens of innocent civilians and held them hostage and shield against security forces.
One of his commanders, Usong Ugong, had surrendered to Senior Superintendent Jose Chiquito Malayo, then the local police chief, in the village of Mampang in exchange for a safe passage back to Basilan province. Ugong claimed that Misuari misled them into believing they would attend a peace rally in Zamboanga, but ended up hiding in the village when fighting erupted.
Malayo was initially reported to have been taken hostage by Ugong’s group, but this had been denied by the police officer who admitted he went to the village to negotiate for the surrender of the rebels. Assorted weapons were also seized by the police from Ugong’s group.
More than 400 people were killed and wounded in the fighting that lasted three weeks and displaced over 120,000 residents. Salazar previously said she will not allow the rebels to go unpunished.
In 2001, loyal forces of Misuari also attacked military bases in Zamboanga City and Jolo town in Sulu province and the clashes killed over 100 people.
Misuari, who signed a peace accord with Manila in 1996, then became governor in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, but was removed after losing in the succeeding elections. He also ran thrice as governor in Sulu in previous years but was repeatedly defeated.
Then out of frustration, he accused the Aquino government of reneging on the peal deal that triggered him to launch attacks in Zamboanga City twice and once in Sulu. (Mindanao Examiner)
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