Tension as MNLF convoy passes through Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - - Residents here were tense on Monday after a large number of Moro National Liberation Front members passed through the city and were intercepted by the military.

 

The police said more than 200 MNLF members arrived in Zambaonga City on Monday aboard 20 vehicles bearing MNLF flags. The vehicles came from from Lanao, Agusan, Bukidnon and Central Mindanao.

 

Their arrival triggered alarm among residents and security forces in this city, which was besieged in 2013 by a faction of the MNLF associated with founding chairman Nur Misuari.

 

Senior Inspector Helen Galvez, spokesperson of Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO), said soldiers with the Army's 21st Infantry Battalion intercepted the MNLF convoy along the highway in Barangay Putik at around 6 a.m.

 

Galvez said the MNLF members were unarmed but were carrying their flags for identification.

 

She said the troops escorted the MNLF members to the pier as they claimed they were on their way to Sulu to meet Misuari.

 

Henry Lacaran, regional committee coordinator, confirmed the MNLF were going to Sulu to show support for Misuari, who is expected to meet with President Rodrigo Duterte.

 

Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said the MNLF movement was not coordinated with the city government. Despite that, and the tension caused by the convoy, City Legal Officer Jesus Carbon said the MNLF members did not violate any laws by passing though the city. 

 

The MNLF signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in 1996 but its leaders say some provisions of the final peace agreement was not implemented as agreed. A faction of the MNLF has met with the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which signed a separate peace agreement in 2014, and the groups agreed to work on a common roadmap for peace in the southern Philippines. 

 

The meeting happened after leaders of both groups held a "brother-to-brother" meeting with Duterte in Davao.