Convicted priest killer Norberto Manero joins former rebel group MNLF in Mindanao

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)

Commies Free Ex-Soldier Kidnapped In Southern RP

NPADAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 24, 2008) – Communist rebels have freed a former government soldier kidnapped in the southern Philippines after more than two months in captivity.

The New People’s Army said it granted amnesty to Jose Manero - who was kidnapped in Davao City in May - after he apologized for all his crimes against the rebel group and victims of human rights in Mindanao.

“The Merardo Arce Command-New People's Army has granted a conditional amnesty to retired Master Sergeant Jose Manero and ordered his immediate release from custodial detention by the 1st Pulang Bagani Company-NPA.”

”This grant of conditional amnesty is based on his admission of guilt and issuance of a public apology for the crimes and serious violations of human rights he committed against the people and the revolutionary movement,” Rigoberto Sanchez, a rebel spokesman, said on Sunday.

He said the NPA has set three conditions for Manero’s amnesty and these were:

1. That heretofore, he would not undertake any act that would harm the people, cause damage to their lives and livelihood and violate basic human rights, especially to workers and peasants. 2. That he would no longer engaged in armed and other hostile actions against the NPA and the revolutionary movement, whether individually or jointly with the AFP, PNP, Intelligence and paramilitary units of the GRP. 3. That he would be truthful to his admission of guilt and issuance of public apology hereinafter.

But Sanchez warned that if Manero breaks any of the condition, the NPA would again put the former soldier on its own wanted list and punish him under the revolutionary legal system and judicial processes of the so-called People's Democratic Government.

Manero is the brother of Norberto Manero Jr., a former government militia leader, who was convicted of murdering Italian missionary Tulio Favali – a member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions - in Mindanao’s North Cotabato province in April 1985.

Manero, who had accused the priest of being a communist supporter, was eventually released from prison last year. (Mindanao Examiner)