MNLF men barricade port

PARANG, Maguindanao - About 70 armed former guerrillas of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) barricaded the port of Pollok here early yesterday, demanding the regional government to give them jobs.

The protesters were particularly sore at Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Nur Misuari whom they accused of discriminating against them for jobs in ports in the region.

The management of all ports in the ARMM, previously under the Philippine Ports Authority, was devolved to Misuari's office last year.

Police special forces were deployed outside the Pollok port and government negotiators were in contact with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) men, said Gaudencio Teves, a member of the municipal council.

He said the men apparently had not taken any hostages or harmed anyone, but were demanding work as security guards at the port.

Port operations were paralyzed as the outgunned security guards and several civilian employees were expelled from the port by the MNLF men, Teves said.

Pollok is one of the busiest ports in Mindanao.

The peace accord that ended the MNLF rebellion provided for limited Muslim self-rule in four southern provinces (Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao) and the integration of 5,500 guerrillas into the military and 1,500 others into the police forces.

However, the balance of the rebel force has refused to disarm.

Local officials said the unemployed former guerrillas launched their operation at 5 a.m.

The action occurred about seven hours before the government was to resume peace talks with a second Muslim separatist guerrilla faction, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in the town of Sultan Kudarat south of here.

Teves said the 70-odd gunmen, armed with assault rifles and wearing their old MNLF uniforms, arrived at the Pollok port aboard cargo trucks and were led by Abdul Rachman Lidasan, a former ranking guerrilla commander.

They apparently resented the fact that other MNLF units who belonged to the Tausug Muslim faction had obtained jobs as security men at the ports of Jolo, Bongao and Pollok.

Port personnel at Pollok are mostly province mates and relatives of ARMM officials close to Misuari, himself a member of the Tausug Muslim faction.

Datu Billy Abdulsalam, speaking on behalf of the protesters, said Misuari's office virtually ignored all their previous appeals that qualified Maguindanaoans be allowed to manage the Pollok port.

"If we cannot be accommodated, we might as well return to the jungles. The national government should intervene and help address this problem," he said.

The protesters hanged a streamer on the port's main gate which read: "Unified MNLF command from mainland (takes) over Maguindanao port."

Some stores and eateries near the port closed down, fearing that hostilities might erupt in the area.

"We will not leave the port until Gov. Misuari comes to personally hear our sentiments," Abdulsalam said.

Representatives from the ARMM police and the Army's 27th Infantry Battalion, which has jurisdiction over the port, tried but failed to convince the MNLF men to vacate the port premises.

Neither Misuari nor any member of his Cabinet could be reached for comment as of press time.

In 1997, MNLF members, hired by Misuari as security guards at the Sulu office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, padlocked their office for months as they protested the delay in their salaries. - With AFP