MNLF to help government vs Abu Sayyaf in Sulu

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The Moro National Liberation Front activated Saturday its Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Terrorism Task Force in Sulu on Saturday to help the military against the Abu Sayyaf and its affiliates.

 

Yusup Jikiri, chairman of the MNLF Council, and former Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema led the launching of the task force inside a school in Barangay Pasil in Indanan town and committed to field a battalion of fighters against the Abu Sayyaf.

 

A battalion typically has between 300-800 soldiers.

 

He said the members of the task force are former combatants who have retired but are ready to serve with the MNLF and the cause of peace.

 

Jikiri said the task force is an initiative of the MNLF Central Committee and has been discussed with and approved by the Duterte administration.

 

He said they also discussed the activation of the task force with Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. (Western Mindanao Command), Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana (Joint Task Force Sulu), National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon and Presidential Adviser Jesus Dureza.

 

“There is nothing to hide regarding the tasks and function of the MNLF Task Force. We created it because we want to help the government, the military, the local government units and our people, the residents of the community, in the common drive against kidnapping and terrorism,” Jikiri told MNLF fighters and military and local government officials.

 

“The bandits and the terrorists are abusing the lives and livelihoods of our people and besmirching the good name of Islam and the Muslims by their misguidance, banditry and terroristic activities,” he added.

 

Jikiri said the MNLF wants to rid its communities of criminal elements and rejects the bandits and terrorist groups using their areas as hideouts.

 

“We don’t want them to seek whatever assistance from the residents of the MNLF areas in furtherance of their evil objectives,” Jikiri said.

 

“We are commanded by Allah not to remain with folded arms and do nothing against those bandits and terrorists who abuse our people and communities by committing crimes right in our backyard,” he also said.

 

Jikiri warned the MNLF community and the people of Sulu that they need to act to prevent a repeat of the siege of Marawi City in Lanao del Sur, where government troops have been fighting extremists since May 23. 

 

“We don’t want to happen to us what happened to our brothers and sisters and our countrymen in Marawi. That is why we created the task force so that bandits and terror groups would not dare use our villages for their evil designs,” Jikiri said.

 

 

The military said the creation of the MNLF task force can help the government against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu. The terror group, which has been the target of sustained government offensives, has reportedly split up to evade authorities.

 

Brig. Gen. Sobejana said they have received information that the Abu Sayyaf have been slipping out of the Mt. Sinumaan Complex, the center of military operations in Patikul. 

 

Sobejana admitted limited resources and a large operational area have affected operations.

 

“And this anti-kidnapping task force can fill up that vacuum in coordination with us,” Sobejana said.

 

However, Sobejana said the MNLF task force cannot operate without coordination with the military.

 

“It will be a great help,” he said.

 

He also reminded fighters that with the imposition of martial law in Mindanao, MNLF fighters can only bear arms inside their community. They must be in civilian clothes and unarmed outside their recognized camps.

 

The activation of the task force came on the same weekend as the government's announcement that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which started as a breakaway MNLF faction in the late 1970s, will be helping in the war against drugs.

 

"It’s about a common interest to address 'yung illegal drug problem. We welcome any assistance when it comes to that. There will be safeguards. That’s why we have a protocol of cooperation," Isidro Lapeña, the director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, said last Friday.

 

The MNLF faction led by Jikiri is different from one led by founding chairman Nur Misuari, with whom the government deals with separately. Misuari, who faces charges in connection with the Zamboanga siege in 2013, offered thousands of fighters to help against terrorists in Marawi City.

 

President Rodrigo Duterte initially announced he was accepting the offer, but has since said it is not the right time for Misuari's fighters to operate alongside security forces.

 

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