The ?detention? by Moro rebels of a military group led by Muslim convert Brig. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino last week stemmed from the repeated postponement of a proposed tripartite meeting with the government and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). The proposed tripartite meeting was to tackle issues related to the implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the GRP and the MNLF.
COTABATO CITY — The Suara Bangsamoro Partylist is one with the rest of the Filipino people in vehemently opposing the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Bill.
The Suara Bangsamoro believes that once President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will sign it into law, it will have a grave effect on the struggle of the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao and will sow more dissent among a people whose constitutional rights have always been violated by the military and police authorities.
MANILA — When I received text messages from Jolo about the news that Ustadz Habier Malik of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) had “held hostage” a government peace executive and Major General Benjamin Dolorfino of the Marines, I felt afraid for the people of Sulu.
A government peace negotiator, a Marine general and 11 other people have been held since Friday by a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front. Undersecretary Ramon G. Santos of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), Marine Major General Benjamin Dolorfino, of the military’s National Capital Region Command and the others were prevented from leaving an MNLF camp on Friday afternoon. The MNLF said they did not take Santos and company as hostages and that they were merely asked to remain in the MNLF camp in Panamao, Sulu, “for more inquiries” by the rebel group.
If the accusation that the Arroyo administration was behind the bombings in Mindanao earlier this month turns out to be true, then this has got to be the worst scenario ever cooked up by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s military intelligence experts to justify their agenda of convincing the public of a need to pass an anti-terror measure.