Sacked MILF spokesman ready to serve ARMM

An MNLF fighter guards his post in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 1, 2011) – A former spokesman of the Muslim rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said he is willing to serve the Muslim autonomous region if Manila appoints him as officer-in-charge.

Eid Kabalu, who was sacked from his post after he secretly held talks with allies of President Benigno Aquino on his political ambition, said he is ready to serve as acting governor of the autonomous region.

This after Aquino said he would appoint officers-in-charge to run the Muslim autonomous region after signing a law that postponed the elections there and instead synchronize it with local and national polls in 2013.

“I am willing to serve as OIC governor should the President chooses me and carry out all his reform programs in the ARMM to benefit the Bangsamoro people and the government as a whole,” he told regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

Kabalu said many groups, including an influential Catholic priest and peace advocate Father Eliseo Mercado, has nominated him to be the OIC in the ARMM.

“My name is included in the probable contender for the ARMM OIC and I personally tendered my resignation as spokesman and civil-military chief of the MILF because I do not want to drag the name of the MILF into this and because of my concern and love to the organization,” he said.

A long time spokesman for the MILF, Kabalu was sacked last week after he held clandestine talks with politicians opposed to the Muslim rebel group, to seek support for his ambition to be appointed OIC in the five-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Eid Kabalu admitted holding talks with former North Cotabato Governor Emmanuel Piñol, a staunch critic of the MILF; and Rodrigo Duterte, the vice mayor of Davao City, to help him convince Aquino to appoint him as acting ARMM governor.

The secluded leader of the MILF, Murad Ebrahim, issued an order terminating Kabalu as his spokesman and chairman of the civil-military department.

“You are hereby terminated as Chairman of the Civil-Military Department, GS, BIAF, MILF and as military spokesman of the BIAF. This is in pursuance to the decision of the GS, BIAF and duly approved by the MILF Central Committee. You are liable for conduct unbecoming of an MILF officer and per your confession during a preliminary investigation by the General Staff, you had admitted having met with Filipino politicians in Davao City and Manila in pursuance to your unilateral decision and ambition to be appointed as ARMM OIC Regional Governor. You know pretty well that ARMM is not the solution to the Bangsamoro Question. The MILF only accepts a negotiated settlement of this problem,” reads the MILF resolution signed by Ebrahim on June 28.

BIAF refers to the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the military wing of the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting for decades for self-determination. (Mindanao Examiner)