Philippines: Woman says kidnappers were MNLF rebels

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines

A Christian school principal released by kidnappers has said that her captors were from a faction of a Muslim rebel group that laid siege to a southern Philippines city last year.

Benita Enriquez Latonio said that gunmen from the Moro National Liberation Front said they had taken her to put pressure on the government to release 24 comrades captured in the September siege on the city of Zamboanga.

 The 62-year-old school official told The Zamboanga Times Saturday that her captors had forced her to trudge through rugged hills for hours as they attempted to escape pursuing government troops.

She said they forced her to call her superior to relay the message that if a rescue operation was attempted, she would be killed.

Eventually they took pity on me, she told the newspaper: "Because I am old and weak."

She said she was released and given 1,500 pesos ($43), which she used to buy food from mountain farmers as she tried to find her way home.

"I believe God helped me for the freedom I have now," she said.

Latonio was seized Monday by gunmen wearing balaclavas while she was aboard a passenger vehicle on its way to Isabela City, the capital of Basilan island. Basilan is an area included in the autonomous region "Bangsamoro" which was agreed on by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in a peace deal signed last month.

The MNLF faction which seized the teacher attacked Zamboanga - a predominantly Christian city surrounded by the Muslim South - in anticipation of the signing of the deal. 

Faction leader Nur Misuari - the MNLF's founding chairman and known by his followers as "President of the Bangsamoro Republic" - is angry at the government for ignoring the MNLF in the agreement. The MNLF has been protesting and demanding the government honor a previous peace accord entered into force in 1996.

 Some 300 MNLF forces were either killed, captured or surrendered in the Zamboanga siege. It resulted in the burning of around 1,000 houses in five Muslim-populated villages, half of whom still live in evacuation centers in the city. Exposed to scorching temperatures and frequent rain, 108 of them have died from various diseases.

Philippines authorities have ordered Misuari's arrest, accusing him of ordering the siege. He has been charged with rebellion and human rights violations.

Violence has erupted again in the Philippines’ south, almost two weeks after the peace agreement was signed.

Suspected militants shot a man dead in Zamboanga this week, and there has been a series of kidnappings and a grenade attack.

Two women were also kidnapped this week from a Malaysian resort around 200 miles from the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayaff stronghold of Jolo. Police had originally said that they believed Latonio's abductors were from Muslim militant group who - like the MNLF - are fighting for an Islamic state in the southern area of Mindanao. 

Military and police forces in the area have said they have heightened security to thwart attacks or destabilization plots by Muslim militant groups opposed to the peace agreement.

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