Twitter war breaks out between troops, 'MNLF rebels'

MANILA, Philippines - The conflict in Zamboanga City has spilled over to cyberspace.

The military’s Twitter account (@TeamAFP) had exchanges with a Twitter user that claims to represent the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

It remains unclear whether @mnlfnet is really maintained by the MNLF Misuari faction, which has been holding hostage about 100 people since Monday.

The @TeamAFP, nevertheless, directed its ‘surrender now’ line to @mnlfnet, which has more than 300 followers as of Wednesday.

“We reiterate our call for (MNLF Commander Ustadz Khabir) Malik’s group to surrender and take responsibility for their actions,” the @TeamAFP tweet directed to @mnlfnet read.

Malik is the top lieutenant of Misuari and the leader of MNLF forces involved in the Zamboanga siege.

The @mnlfnet responded by saying that Malik has been immortalized.

“He treasures martyrdom than anything else in this world,” the response read.

The military, however, continued to reply to the purported MNLF Twitter account by rehashing statements that its officials released last Tuesday.

“There is still honor in surrender especially if it will result in the safety of their hostages and the lives of his men,” the @TeamAFP post read.

“Surrender must be unconditional and every fighter in Malik's group should be ready and willing to face consequences of their actions.”

To which, @mnlfnet replied: “When did MNLF run from a good battle? When did they surrender to the oppressors if not only for the calling of peaceful solution?”

The @TeamAFP Twitter account, which has more than 17,000 followers as of yesterday, has been very active since the Zamboanga crisis erupted last Monday.

It even had time to answer bashers and media reports that are critical of the armed forces.

The account recently drew negative reactions after stating that the media “is trying to sell news apart from reporting it.”

The handler of @TeamAFP eventually apologized, saying they did not mean to generalize all members of the media.

When a Twitter user posted a photo about a soldier who allegedly asked for leftover rice because his unit had ran out of food, @teamafp attributed it to “lazy reporting.”

Meanwhile, the @MNLFnet account has been criticizing what it called “Filipino colonizers” and scored the government for its supposed refusal to respect the 1996 peace agreement.

The purported MNLF account even thanked Twitter for “giving voice to the once muted oppressed Bangsamoro people of Filipino-colonized Mindanao.”