Balabac Massacre---Gloria's Version of Jabidah

A visually enraged Nur Misuari, chairman emeritus of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) blasted the military for the alleged “massacre” of seven MNLF members during a reported encounter in Balabac Island a few days ago in Palawan.

Misuari, who formed the MNLF in 1972 after the alleged Jabidah massacre perpetuated by military forces in Corregidor Island, said that the deaths of these seven MNLF members, including their leader and his two sons, are suspicious and reminds one of the infamous Jabidah massacre during the Marcos regime.

For those lived during those tumultuous times, Jabidah was the codename of a military project by Marcos. Several Muslims were tapped and trained in the island of Corregidor for the sole mission of invading Borneo and claim the island as Philippine territory. When the plan was discovered, Marcos immediately ordered the massacre of the Muslim volunteers by the military.

Shortly after the Jabidah massacre, Misuari, who was a professor of the University of the Philippines in Diliman at that time, formed the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the precursor of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). After a bloody war which left 150,000 dead, the MNLF and the government went to the peace table. Former First Lady Imelda Marcos used her links with Libya to talk peace with the MNLF but it was only after a few years, in the 1990s, that the MNLF agreed to lay down their arms and enter into an agreement with government.

Misuari said he could not believe those claims by the military that those killed in Balabac resisted arrest. The AFP said the firefight started when army troops tried to serve a warrant of arrest against one of the MNLF members, allegedly for extortion. That’s unbelievable, says Misuari, since those who were living in Balabac Island are all Tausugs and relatives, so they can’t be an extortionist among them. Besides, says Misuari, they have been there since several decades ago.

Misuari vows to meet Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro to discuss this, but the former Bangsamoro leader said, ” The MNLF will never forget this. For every blood spilt, there would be accountability,” says Misuari who once led the Bangsamoro revolutionaries in a bloody war that left 150,000 killed in Mindanao.