PHILIPPINES: CHRISTIAN VIGILANTES WANT TO FIGHT AGREEMENT BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND MOSLEM REBELS

Record ID: 376050

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: CHRISTIAN VIGILANTES WANT TO FIGHT AGREEMENT BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND MOSLEM REBELS
  • Date: 7th September 1996
  • Summary: ZAMBOANGA CITY, PHILIPPINES (SEPTEMBER 7, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV VIGILANTE GROUP SHOUTING, "VIVA MINDANAO" 0.06 2. SV/CU WEAPONS (4 SHOTS) 0.27 3. SLV MASKED MEN WALKING 0.34 4. SV MASKED VIGILANTE CLAIMING TO BE KUMANDER BAUTISTA SAYING OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO PREVENT THIS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SPCPD (SOUTHERN PHILIPPINE COUNCIL FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT) WHICH WE BELIEVE IS AGAINST THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE OF THE MAJORITY OF OUR PEOPLE HERE." 0.51 5. SV MASKED VIGILANTES/ MACHINE GUN (3 SHOTS) 1.05 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ZAMBOANGA CITY, PHILIPPINES
  • City:
  • Country: Phillippines
  • Reuters ID: LVA3V1MN2EI6UH6QSACU1A2Y8RYT
  • Story Text: INTRO: Christian vigilantes say they will fight a recent deal signed by the Philippines government in Manila with Moslem rebels. The group says it fears Moslems will take power as a result of the deal and have threatened violent opposition to the agreement.

    Christian vigilantes in the Philippines, who oppose a peace deal signed between Manila and Moslem rebels,displayed their weapons at a meeting convened for reporters on Saturday (September 7).

    "Viva (Long live) Zamboanga, Viva Mindanao," they shouted as they marched in a clearing in a banana plantation about 20 km (12 miles) from central Zamboanga city.

    The vigilantes, members of the Mindanao Christian Unified Command (MCUC), told Filippino and foreign journalists gathered outside Zamboanga city that they would use the weapons to fight the deal and prevent intrusion by the Moslem Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

    The accord formally ended a 24-year revolt for Moslem self-rule waged by the MNLF in the southern Mindanao region and calls for the establishment of an MNLF-led administrative council, the Southern Philippine Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD), to supervise development in 14 Mindanao provinces and nine cities, including Zamboanga.

    "Our objective is to prevent the implementation of the SPCPD, which we believe is against the will of the people of the majority of our people here," said one vigilante who called himself Kumander Bautista.

    Bautista said the 35 vigilantes present at the meeting were part of a larger group scattered in different areas. Some are believed to be former soldiers.

    Although the country's five million Moslem minority regard the area as their ancestral homeland, they are outnumbered 3-to-1 in the area by Christian settlers.

    Christians have accused Manila of a sell-out for signing the accord. Many have expressed fears that Moslems might seize their lands back if the MNLF gains political ascendancy in the region.


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