October 30, 2009 - Visibly irked by the tongue-lashing it got from Department of National Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro on the abduction of the Irish priest Michael Sinnot, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) told him to be prudent in his statement and factual with facts with this incident.
Muhammad Ameen, chairperson of the MILF Secretariat, told www.luwaran.com/net that anyone who wants to become president of any country must not act like a child who easily concludes without sufficient basis.
“Act like as a real presidentiable,” Ameen told Teodoro.
“Even
granting that Sinnot was kidnapped by what Teodoro said as ‘rogue
elements’ of the MILF, this will not necessarily make it an act of the
MILF,” explained Ameen.
“The MILF offered to help in the rescue
of Sinnot to the extent of sending our forces to track down the
kidnappers but the government refused to concede. We sent our formal
letter of request but the response so far was not forthright. Sinnot
cannot be rescued by mere lip-service.”
In an interview, Teodoro
said the government was accepting the offer of the MILF to assist in
recovery efforts but said that allowing their group to send out troops
on the ground was a different story.
“The MILF itself has been
trying to exert efforts according to the negotiating panels to secure
the release of the priest; however, it is a very ticklish question if
we will allow them to operate in the area as an armed group. I will
have serious reservations on that,” Teodoro said.
He disclosed
that based on the reports that he received, the 78-year-old priest is
being held by a rogue sub-commander of the MILF’s 113th base command,
and added that the military knows the general area where the bandits
are hiding.
Sinnot was kidnapped by a well-known bandit leader,
a certain Ingona, in Pagadian City on October 11 but was allegedly
passed on to an MILF commander in Sultan Naga Dimaporo in Lanao del
Norte.
Secretary Gilbert Teodoro is one of the presidential
aspirants who have a hardline stance against the MILF and other rebels
in this country.
In a forum in Singapore, he said he will
negotiate only with rebels if they surrender their arms and they would
not be treated as equals in the negotiating table.
The other one
is convicted former President Joseph Estrada, but pardoned later by
President Arroyo, who said that if he wins the presidency again he will
launch another all-out war against the MILF.
Estrada’s other platform is to legalize gambling in the Philippines especially the number-game jueteng.
