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Saturday, October 25, 2008
Davao Muslims snob Bravo's secession call
DAVAO CITY -- The Muslim community here will not support the call of renegade Moro leader Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo for an independent Mindanao state and the "ubusan ng lahi" dare.
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This was the assurance extended by the founding chair of the United Muslims Council for Peace and Development, retired Colonel Yusop Jimlani, Thursday afternoon at the Grand Men Seng Hotel.
"He is out of bounds," Jimlani said of Bravo's call for an all-out war, which was accompanied by the rogue Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leader's threat of "genocide" on non-Muslims in Mindanao.
"The Philippines is owned by Filipinos, it just so happened that in Mindanao, maraming Muslim noon," Jimlani said. "We will not support him, at least those here in Davao."
Last Wednesday, another group of Muslim civil society members called for sobriety between the rebel groups and the military forces.
"We opt for the more peaceful means," Guiamil Alim, chair of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, was reported saying in an interview Thursday at the Green Heights Convention Center in Davao City.
"We appeal to the government to rethink their approach on the peace process. And we ask them for more police action than military operations in order not to involve the civilians," Alim told Sun.Star Davao.
Alim, together with 50 other representatives of the various sectors of the Muslim community in Davao City and North Cotabato held a consultative dialogue Thursday.
"We are talking of what is happening today in Mindanao and in finding a peaceful solution," Alim said. "We are coming up with an action plan on what to do."
Meanwhile, one of the deputies of Commander Bravo has surrendered to the military in the province of Lanao del Sur.
Captain Ralph Dela Cruz, deputy civil-military operation (CMO) chief of the Army's First Infantry Division, identified the deputy who surrendered as Panda Macabada, who is incidentally the village chief of Gadungan, Madalum, Lanao del Sur.
Dela Cruz said Macabada surrendered to Lieutenant Colonel Jed Motus, chief of the Army's 65th Infantry Battalion, in the town of Balindong, Lanao del Sur Province.
He did not, however, disclose when Macabada surrendered but said the rebel leader yielded after the 65th Infantry Battalion CMO unit exerted peaceful negotiations.
He said Mcabada alias Commander Haj Omar is deputy commander of the 212th Brigade, 102nd Base Command of the MILF's Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF).
Macabada turned over one M-14 riffle when he surrendered to Motus, according to Dela Cruz.
Macabada is now in the custody of the Army's 65th Infantry Battalion and would be utilized as negotiator for possible surrender of his followers.
The rebel leader decided to return to the folds of the law after realizing that they are fighting for the wrong cause and violating human rights.
The military also learned from Macabada that there is an ongoing rift among some MILF factions and that many of their followers feel demoralized.
"Macabada's surrender only manifests that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is open to a peaceful approach to solve the security problem in the Lanao provinces," Dela Cruz said. (CPM/Bong Garcia/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Davao. (October 25, 2008 issue)
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