Dolorfino wouldn’t say if he was a hostage

By Ronron
February 6, 2007

Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino refuses to say categorically whether or not he and his companions were held hostage last weekend by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in its camp in Panamao, Sulu.

In a television interview yesterday noon, Dolorfino belied earlier reports that he admitted during a hearing at the Senate’s Commission on Appointment that they were held hostage by the rebel group.

“I myself could not say what really happened to us because this is a very special case,” said Dolorfino, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) National Capital Region Command (NCRCOM) and co-chairman of the GRP-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Joint Action Group.

Dolorfino, Undersecretary Ramon Santos and 13 other government officials and military escorts spent two nights at the MNLF camp in Bitan-ag Complex since Friday after they were asked to stay until a date for the resumption of the tripartite meeting among the MNLF, the GRP and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) is finalized.

The meeting, to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, seeks to review the implementation of the 1996 peace accord between the MNLF and the Philippine government.

The group’s main purpose in going to the MNLF camp was to finally resolve the misencounter between the AFP and the MNLF in Patikul town last January 18 that left nine rebels and three soldiers killed.

While Dolorino admitted that they were prevented from leaving the camp, he disclosed their movements inside, on the other hand, were not restricted. In fact, their escorts were not even disarmed, and they themselves were allowed to use their cellular phones.

“My point is it really depends upon the one who would like to judge what really happened. The best thing to do is, we will leave the issue behind. It is up to the people to describe how they saw the incident,” Dolorfino said.

He said that what he told the CA hearing earlier in the day was that if people will “take the strictest sense of the word HOSTAGE,” they could say “that we were (held) hostage.”

Or, “they can say we were held against our will and we were in a situation that we had to adhere to, to stay and cooperate,” he added.

But, others could also say that “we were hosted because I have said that we were treated properly, my security men were not disarmed, we were allowed to use our cellphones, and we were allowed to roam around their camp without any restriction,” Dolorfino said.

In a news briefing at Camp Aguinaldo, AFP Public Information Officer Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said the organization officially does not regard the incident as “hostage-taking.”

He said the AFP is not also aware of any move or plan to file a formal complaint against the MNLF in relation to the incident.

Nevertheless, Dolorfino still pushes for the continuation of the peace process with the group. “I believe that we should always give the peace process the chance to prosper. All of us should see it this way,” he said./DMS