Nur's MNLF: 'We are very, very, very unhappy'

MANILA, Philippines - The Moro National Liberation Front's (MNLF) faction led by Nur Misuari said Tuesday that the hostilities in Zamboanga City show that the government does not want peace in Mindanao.

"Ang tanong ko sa mga matinong tao, nagbabasa at nag-iisip, why did (the government) not use the political solution provided by the peace agreement? Kasi gusto nila ng gulo, period. Kami po ay very very very unhappy," Lawyer Emmanuel Fontanilla, spokesperson of Misuari's MNLF faction, said in a radio interview.

"It is very unfortunate na nagkaroon ng ganito dahil sa katangahan ng Philippine government," he added.

Fontanilla said that only the United Nations and Indonesia can help settle the standoff with the government. Until then, he said the MNLF guerillas will continue to defend themselves.

"Ang Indonesia at UN, dapat mamagitan," he said.

He also claimed that the government is using the encounter to cover up the issue involving alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

"Niloloko lang ng gobyerno 'yung mga taong ito. Itong bagay na walang problema, nilagyan ng problema para mawala 'yung Napoles at mawala 'yung pork barrel scandal," Fontanilla claimed.

The MNLF official also reiterated his earlier claims that the military fired the first shot in Barangay Sta. Barbara. He said that the MNLF members were only supposed to do a symbolic march.

"Saan ba kami nag-atake? Wala po. Wala kaming area na inatake. Doon lang sa Sta. Barbara sila (MNLF members) pumunta at pinuntahan ng military at pinagbabaril. So ano gagawin? Self-defense," he insisted.

The military said, however, that the conflict began late Sunday when police arrested five MNLF guerrillas who were wearing combat uniforms and carrying pistols in Rio Hondo.

Then early Monday, a navy patrol spotted a large boat and eight smaller vessels carrying dozens of armed MNLF members off Rio Hondo, sparking a gunbattle at sea that killed a member of the navy special forces and wounded six others.

The clash spilled into Rio Hondo, where bursts of gunfire forced hundreds of residents to flee.

MNLF grievances

University of the Philippines political science professor Clarita Carlos, meanwhile, said that the government should listen to the grievances of the rebels.

"Let's pay attention to him, after all, he was a partner in the 1996 peace agreement," Carlos said in a television interview on ANC Monday night.

"The promises to him have not exactly been implemented," added Carlos, who used to be Misuari's colleague in the university department.

The MNLF signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996 and Misuari sat as governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The group's leaders, however, remained adamant in initial demands to be granted autonomy.

Last month, the MNLF declared independence for Mindanao and Palawan in the Philippines, and Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia reportedly as a response to the government's peace negotiations with the MNLF breakaway, Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The government and the MILF have signed the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which would pave the way for the creation of a new Bangsamoro entity that would replace the ARMM.

"To be fair to him ... I remember he was telling me in a very, very long discourse just how much improvement he wanted in that area, but he was stymied by the fact that the area did not have fiscal autonomy," Carlos said.

"Every move that he wants to do, he has to go begging in Malacanang ... You grant him autonomy but you withheld the power of the purse, which is so important," she added. - with Associated Press