COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 16, 2009) - A former Filipino militia leader and convicted priest killer Norberto Manero has joined the Moro National Liberation Front in Mindanao.
Rival rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said Manero, who was convicted of killing an Italian missionary Tullio Favali in 1985, was recruited by Nur Misuari, chieftain of the MNLF.
It said Manero once headed the paramilitary force called Ilaga, who fought Moro and communist rebels in the 1970s.
“Former Moro mass murderer and priest killer Norberto Manero was recruited into the Moro National Liberation Front by no less than Chairman Nur Misuari, who sworn him into the group last week in Kabacan, North Cotabato,” the MILF said in a statement.
”Tens of thousands of Moro civilians died in the hands of these state-sponsored Ilaga gangsters forcing mass evacuation of people and abandonment of farmlands and communities.”
The MILF also quoted Manero as saying in a radio interview in Mindanao that he joined the Misuari’s group to promote peace in the troubled region.
“All of us want peace. I want to achieve peace. Since the MNLF works for peace I have decided to join the group of chairman Nur Misuari and (his) Chief of Staff, Major General Rodrigo Daud Fabillon),” Manero told the Bombo Radyo.
The MILF, a breakaway faction of the Moro National Liberation Front, also said that Misuari tried to revive the MNLF and went on sorties all over Mindanao recruiting not only Muslims, but also indigenous natives and Christians.
Manero was said to have eaten the brains of Favali after he shot the priest in North Cotabato’s Tulunan town. Manero’s group accused Favali, of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, of being a supporter of communist rebels.
After the killing, Manero was arrested, jailed and freed 22 years later. Manero also apologized over the murder of Favali and said he wanted to dedicate the rest of his life in service of the poor.
His release from prison was ordered by the Arroyo government after Manero signed an agreement in 2005 with Fr Peter Geremia, one of Favali's fellow PIME missionaries, and Bishop Romulo Valles that “he would never again get involved in the violence in the southern part of the country, and would never again resort to violence".
The agreement was what changed the possibility of parole for Manero. (Mindanao Examiner)
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