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By Julmunir I. Jannaral
Correspondent
JOLO, Sulu: Gov Abdusakur Tan of
Sulu expressed doubt on Sunday of Indanan town Mayor Alvarez
Isnaji’s chances in the election for regional governor of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the light of the
controversy hounding him. Initially having played the role of
emissary to the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) during the negotiations for
the release of ABS-CBN news team headed by veteran news reporter Ces
Oreña-Drilon, he has been charged for the abduction.
Isnaji is the official candidate
of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) faction chaired by
Mayor Muslimin Sema of Cotabato City in the coming August 11
regional elections.
Isnaji and his son, Haider,
hugged the limelight recently after the Criminal Investigation &
Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP)
accused them of their complicity in the kidnapping by the ASG of
Drilon and her cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion and assistant cameraman
Angelo Valderrama together with Prof. Octavio Dinampo of Mindanao
State University (MSU), a known peace advocate.
PNP Director Gen. Avelino Razon
Jr. accused the beleaguered town mayor of pocketing some P3 million
of ransom money paid by the parents of Drilon and allegedy gave only
P2 million to the kidnappers.
The arrest of Isnaji and his son
by the CIDG has surprised many of his constituents from the
municipality of Indanan who believe the mayor is innocent of the
charges. They said that he should be awarded instead for his role in
the release of Drilon and her companions.
On the eve of the deadline given
by the Abu Sayyaf, Isnaji sent a text message to The Manila Times
and said that he would try his best to appeal to the kidnappers to
extend the deadline because of his pity on the plight of Drilon and
her news team who have begged for his help and not to abandon them.
He and his son are still in the custody’of the CIDG as of this
writing.
The beleaguered mayor has denied
all these accusations saying that these were politically motivated
because he is one of the candidates for the regional governor
challenging the incumbent Regional Gov. Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan.
As this developed, the Sulu
governor said together with all the mayors allied with him that they
will try to convince Isnaji to withdraw his candidacy for the ARMM
regional governor because he might just end up losing to incumbent
Ampatuan because of his detention and he could not go out and
campaign freely within the six provinces of the ARMM composed of
Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, and Shariff
Kabunsuan.
Tan said they are worried the
defeat of Isnaji in the ARMM elections can only marginalize the MNLF
politically.
“We will convince him to
withdraw instead and return to the ARMM’s political mainstream so
we can work together in furthering peace and sustainable development
in our province,” Tan said.
However, Commissioner Rene
Sarmiento of the Commission on Elections was quoted on TV that
Isnaji is still qualified to run despite his case relating to the
kidnapping of Drilon and company since there is no final conviction
yet.
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