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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: Former Muslim separatist rebels
have stood behind one of their leaders accused of involvement in the
kidnapping of a television reporter and three others on the southern
island of Sulu.
The ex-insurgents from the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) said they are behind Mayor Alvarez Isnaji of
Indanan town because he was above suspicion. Isnaji on Thursday was
charged with kidnapping by the police along with his son Haider, or
Jun, of Cecilia “Ces” Drilon and her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion
and Angelo Valderama of ABS-CBN broadcast network and their guide,
Octavio Dinampo, a professor from Mindanao State University.
“We were all shocked by the news,” Muslim in
Sema, the chief of the Muslim liberation front, told The Manila
Times. “This is very unfortunate because Mayor Isnaji is a good
man. We don’t believe he is involved in anyway with the kidnapping
and he should be set free by the authorities.”
Sema, also the mayor of Cotabato City, said
Isnaji’s arrest could affect his candidacy in elections in the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in August this year. He did not
say if the effect would be positive or negative.
Profile of Isnaji
Isnaji is one of seven candidates for governor
in the Muslim autonomous region, whose current leader, Zaldy
Ampatuan, is a known ally of President Gloria Arroyo.
Press Secretary Jesus Dureza on Thursday said
authorities are still looking into Isnaji’s involvement in the
kidnapping of Drilon’s group. “Let us wait for the results of
the ongoing investigation. The government’s trajectory now is to
get all those involved in the kidnapping and apply the full force of
the law [on them].”
Isnaji is also the current chairman of the Sulu
League of Municipalities. Before he became mayor, Isnaji was the
speaker of the Regional Legislative Assembly in the Muslim
autonomous region and became also the acting regional governor in
2001.
He is also a senior member of the Central
Committee of the MNLF, which signed a peace agreement with Manila in
1996.
Isnaji was handpicked by the Abu Sayyaf to
negotiate for the release of the hostages. He admitted paying
several hundreds of thousands of pesos for the freedom of Drilon’s
group on top of an economic package allegedly promised by Sen. Loren
Legarda, who had helped in the negotiations.
“Senator Legarda herself promised livelihood
aid and infrastructure projects for these people [members of the Abu
Sayyaf]. We did not pay ransom except for P100,000 as payment for
[board and lodging] expenses. Our commitment to the kidnappers [are]
livelihood and infrastructure projects, such as farm-to-market
roads,” the Indanan mayor said.
Legarda denied promising anything to the Abu
Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group that, like the MNLF, is also
battling for an independent Islamic homeland in Mindanao.
Dinampo defends mayor
Earlier Thursday military authorities presented
Dinampo to journalists in Zamboanga City after media reports claimed
that he also was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the
kidnapping.
“I am not being held against my will,”
Dinampo, also the leader of the independent Mindanao People’s
Caucus, said inside a tightly guarded room in the Western Mindanao
Command headquarters.
Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, regional military chief,
said the university professor underwent a routine debriefing, the
same procedure the other freed hostages also went through.
“We did not hold him and he is here with his
family and friends and they will return home to Davao City,”
Allaga added.
Dinampo, clad in a white T-shirt and a pair of
denim pants, was in tears as he told his ordeal in the hands of the
Abu Sayyaf. He also defended Isnaji and said the former liberation
front leader was instrumental in their release.
“There is no basis for the authorities to hold
Mayor Isnaji. [He] was someone whom the negotiators trust since
[Deputy Gov. Nur Ana] Sahidulla [of Sulu] was rejected by the Abu
Sayyaf,” Dinampo said.
Security forces were preparing for a fresh
offensive against the Abu Sayyaf after the rebels freed all their
hostages. “We are now tracking down the kidnappers,” Allaga
said.
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