Military ready for Misuari loyalists

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Government troops are ready to thwart any attempt by followers of former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Nur Misuari to wreak havoc in Sulu.

About 300 Misuari partisans have been going around the province in a convoy of vehicles to instill fear in residents, military intelligence reports said.

The plot was discovered after a Misuari follower was given a safe-conduct pass from the military last Jan. 4 to try to convince his comrades to surrender.

Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya, Armed Forces Southern Command chief, said troops are monitoring the reported rebel movement so they could prevent them from committing any atrocity.

"There’s always the possibility (that the renegades will commit atrocities), but we are prepared for it — not only to repel them," he said.

Col. Susulan Salapuddin, deputy commander of the Army’s 104th Brigade in Jolo, said a Basilan-based Misuari follower, Ustadz Bashir Jailani is rallying his comrades to take up arms against the government.

Salapuddin said Jailani told the Misuari partisans a delegation from the Organization of Islamic Conference will arrive in Jolo to work for the independence of Mindanao.

Jailani has been implicated in the siege of the Cabatangan complex in Zamboanga City, he added.

A dozen followers of Misuari were killed and more than 40 others wounded when they attacked an Army base in Sulu on Nov. 19, 2001.

Misuari and seven of his men were later captured while trying to sneak into Sabah after fleeing Sulu to elude pursuing government troops.

Malaysian authorities later turned over Misuari and his followers to top Filipino police and foreign affairs officials who had come to Kuala Lumpur to take custody of the fugitives.

Misuari, who is now jailed at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, will be arraigned at 8 a.m. today in a special courthouse built for his trial inside the Special Action Force training camp. — Roel Pareño