Misuari fires three more key ARMM officials

COTABATO CITY – Autonomous Region in Muslim Min—danao (ARMM) Gov. Nur Misuari fired three more key regional officials yesterday in a seemingly continuing purge of subordinates who now recognize the "Council for 15" as the new leadership of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Misuari’s move, described by local leaders as "vendetta dismissal," brought to six the number of ARMM officials he had terminated in two weeks for having supported the council, which ousted him as MNLF chairman last April.

The three sacked officials were Romeo Sema of the ARMM’s Youth Affairs Office, Assistant Labor Secretary Israel Abdullah and Assistant Agriculture Secretary Naguib Solano.

Sources from the governor’s office confirmed the dismissal of the three officials.

The termination of Sema, Abdullah and Solano came less than a week after Misuari relieved ARMM Trade Secretary Hamid Wahid, who was among the first MNLF members who threw their support behind the council.

Members of the Council of 15, all pioneer leaders of the MNLF, took over the front’s leadership from Misuari due to what they claimed was loss of trust and confidence.

The first to lose their posts early this month were Bai Sandra Sema and Alfatah Abubakar, ARMM secretaries of education, culture and sports, and science and technology, respectively.

Sema is the wife of Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, secretary-general of the MNLF and a member of the Council of 15.

In an assembly here last week, the leaders of some 50,000 MNLF members and supporters from the ARMM provinces, the Zamboanga peninsula and Basilan took turns pledging support to the council.

Among those present in the gathering were Sulu Gov. Yusoph Jikiri, Misuari’s former chief of staff; Melham Alam, Abebakerin Lucman and Sahirin Bahjin of the Islamic Council, a breakaway group of the MNLF.

Prevent MNLF collapse – Ople

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore urged President Arroyo yesterday to intervene to prevent the collapse of the MNLF, or else extremist groups would try to fill the power vacuum.

Ople said the MNLF, which he described as a major partner of the government in Mindanao, is showing signs of disintegration with Misuari being ousted by the Council of 15.

"The disintegration of the MNLF leadership has already affected the morale of its component troops in the field who had exchanged gunfire with government troops in Basilan," he said.

The Armed Forces has absorbed a number of MNLF fighters in accordance with the peace agreement with the MNLF.

The military described the recent clash with the MNLF integrees in Basilan as a "misencounter."

"The internal affairs of the MNLF become the concern of the government because we need a united MNLF when addressing questions of security and governance in the South," Ople said.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the government should go ahead with the Aug. 15 plebiscite on the ARMM’s new Organic Act despite Misuari’s objections.

The new Organic Act seeks to expand the ARMM territory, now covering Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, to include other provinces mentioned in the Tripoli Agreement of 1976. — With Efren Danao