Marine Maj. Gen. Mohammad Benjamin Dolorfino said he and other officials on a peace mission were "special guests" of the Misuari Breakaway Group (MBG) which barred them from leaving its camp in Panamao, Sulu, a move that rekindled fears of a new round of violence in Mindanao.
Also being held at the MBG camp were Undersecretary Ramon Santos of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and 12 others, including Dolorfino’s armed escorts.
"I just would like to make it clear that we’re not hostages here. We’re being treated as special guests. We’re just prevented from leaving the camp," Dolorfino said over GMA network.
Dolorfino said the MBG merely wanted to "clear up some problems" with the schedule of the tripartite peace meeting with the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
"Perhaps this is some sort of their leverage for the (government) and the OIC to decide on peace as soon as possible," he said.
"They were not taken hostage. They were treated as official guests and they are physically fine," Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro told reporters.
He added that Dolorfino communicated regularly with AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. regarding the situation.
"If we were hostages we would have been disarmed and we would not be able to use our cell phones, but we’re here with them; we’re talking with them but we cannot leave the camp," the Marine general said.
The government party, originally numbering about 25, went to the MNLF camp to follow up the peace process. Some of them were later allowed to leave camp.
"It’s not like we were being held hostage. We were relaxed, eating durian," one of the officials who was allowed to leave the camp said. He declined to be named.
"Please tell their families not to worry because we treat them as brothers and Gen. Dolorfino is our regular guest who always talks peace," Habier Malik, the leader of MNLF group which held the officials, said.
MNLF spokesman Abduraman Jamasali said in a television interview that the officials were in the MNLF camp "by invitation," but in another interview, he told reporters that "maybe they will stay longer here until the issue of the tripartite talks is resolved." — Roel Pareño, James Mananghaya, AFP