From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 26): Zambo mayor urges OPAPP to solve issues of diverse groups
Authorities in this city were on alert starting Thursday, as various text messages causing undue alarm among the people, circulated in this city.
While the convergence is not a violation per se, Salazar said the authorities remain vigilant to ensure safety and protection of the civilians who have been traumatized because of the November 27, 2001 “Cabatangan siege.”
“We still remember this and we do not want to further traumatize the people and the children of Zamboanga City
Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar has called on the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (OPAPP) to address issues of diverse groups pertaining to the proposed framework agreement and to confine all collective efforts within areas under the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and not in this city.
“Zamboanga City is for peace and supports the government stand on peace process in Mindanao, we uphold our stand on non-inclusion in ARMM and thus call on OPAPP to address issues of diverse groups and confine them in ARMM as Zamboanga City is not part of ARMM,” Salazar said, as she revealed about a City Council resolution and a letter sent to the OPAPP regarding the matter.
“We will stand by the desires of the Zamboangueños,” Salazar declared.
Salazar on Tuesday formally wrote Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles of OPAPP, copy furnished to the Office of the President, seeking intervention through the provision of another avenue where these groups can truly and freely ventilate their grievances in a forum where their sentiments can be shared and felt--which she said should be held in ARMM areas only.
“While it is beyond my comprehension of the MNLF decision that the supposed venue be held here in the city, it must be stressed that Zamboanga City is not part of the ARMM, a political resolution made known, through an overwhelming votes cast by our constituents, in a plebiscite called for that purpose,” she said in the letter to the OPAPP.
The mayor was prompted to write the letter in the wake of a reported consultative meeting/assembly by MNLF forces at the residence of former ARMM governor and MNLF chair Nur Misuari in his residence in Barangay San Roque, this city.
Misuari, in a press conference Thursday morning held at his residence in Barangay San Roque this city, has questioned the build up of troops in this city, Basilan and Sulu and declared the proposed framework agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as without basis.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=548480