Disgruntled ex-MNLF rebels abandon Maguindanao port

PARANG, Maguindanao - Disgruntled former Muslim rebels withdrew from the Polloc port here Monday night after seizing it at gunpoint in a protest over job discrimination, the military said yesterday.

The 100-odd Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) members, armed with assault rifles, left Polloc port at 7 p.m. Monday after negotiations with local officials, military officials said.

The former separatist guerrillas, whose organization signed a peace settlement in 1996, had demanded to be hired at the port.

The occupation was peaceful but operations were paralyzed for a day.

The former rebels left without any firm assurance from Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Nur Misuari, but threatened to dramatize their protest again if Misuari fails to act on their demand in two weeks.

"They abandoned the area with a promise that they will wait for the action of Gov. Misuari on the issue," said Superintendent Abubakar Mangelen, the provincial police director.

The MNLF members have accused Misuari of favoring Muslim Tausugs, of which he is one, for jobs in ports in the region. Management of all seaports and airports in the ARMM has been devolved to Misuari's office last year.

Jamasali Abdurrahman, a senior official of the ARMM, created after the peace treaty, told reporters: "We cannot give jobs to everybody considering the huge number of MNLF members."

Sources from Misuari's office said the governor, who is out of the country, has to address the issue fairly to prevent a repeat of Monday's incident.

Mangelen, ARMM Executive Secretary Randolph Parcasio and the region's natural resources secretary, Datu Randy Karon, told the protesters that their grievances will be brought to Misuari's attention.

"They agreed to have a peaceful dialogue with Gov. Misuari. It was good that they vacated the port taking our word that they would be heard by the governor," Mangelen said.

The protesters, led by Datu Billy Abdulsalam and three other MNLF commanders, presented a manifesto calling on the ARMM administration to allow qualified Maguindanaoan members of the MNLF to manage the Polloc port.

Most of the protesters were young MNLF members who have not been integrated into the Armed Forces and the national police.

The government-MNLF peace accord 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, part of the rebel force has refused to disarm. Some of them had been linked to kidnapping and other acts of banditry.

Abdurrahman urged the disgruntled former rebels to take up their case with the government's transportation department.

The seizure of the port came only hours before the start of peace talks between another Muslim group and the government.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was left out in the peace accord with the MNLF and has emerged as the last major insurgency in Mindanao. - With AFP