Troops retake more MNLF-held areas in Zambo

MANILA, Philippines - Government security forces have recaptured 80 percent of the coastal areas in Zamboanga City previously occupied by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) as the standoff enters its 10th day, a ranking police official said.

Philippine National Police Deputy Director for Operations Felipe Rojas, Jr. said that "most" of the MNLF rebels in the area had either "surrendered or had been killed."

"If we're talking percentages, we estimate MNLF presence in only about 20 percent (of controlled areas)," Rojas said in a radio interview early Wednesday.

Although Rojas refused to name the locations where troops are stepping up an offensive, he said they are focusing in places where shots were recently heard.

He added that police have started clearing operations to detect improvised explosive devices in the previously MNLF-held areas.

Some rebels surrender

The surrender of 23 rebels came as government troops implemented a calibrated response to end the standoff and after a local police chief and his staff were snatched by armed men Tuesday.

CMC confirms the release of OIC City Director SSupt. Chiquito Malayo and the surrender of some MNLF members.

— zambocitygovt (@zambocitygovt) September 17, 2013

Senior Superintendent Jose Chiquito Malayo, acting chief of police of Zamboanga City, along with his driver and a security aide was reportedly released by the MNLF a few hours after they were reportedly abducted.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II has said Malayo was trying to negotiate the surrender of a group of rebels whom Malayo brought with him when he returned.

"While trying to convince them, he was taken into custody or held hostage but he kept on convincing them until he succeeded," Roxas told reporters.

The rebels said they had come from a nearby island to join a peaceful protest by their group in Zamboanga but withdrew after firefights erupted between government troops and their comrades, Roxas said, adding police would investigate their claims.

"The important thing here is he (Malayo) was able to enact the surrender," military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said.

MNLF claims, however, the group "disguised" as  MNLF fighters paid for wartime propaganda.

"MNLF mass withdrawal from battle ground is only (Armed Forces of the Philippines') propaganda of fighting and surrender ... (The) 23 are actually Basilan paid followes of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman disguised as MNLF fighters. Hoax," the group said in its Twitter account on Wednesday. With Associated Press