At the same time, Justice Secretary Hernando Perez frowned on Misuari’s supposedly excessive requests and apparent attempt to turn his detention into a "media circus."
Perez rejected two of four requests Misuari submitted to the Supreme Court. The two, including a request for a laptop and printer, were within the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan and police spokesman Chief Superintendent Cresencio Maralit, however, assured Sta. Rosa residents there is no reason to fear that Misuari’s men may launch "sympathy" terrorist attacks in their town.
"If they engage in terrorism, they will be targeted as terrorists," Adan said, adding the military is continuously monitoring the activities of Misuari’s friends and supporters.
Maralit said there are ample security measures in the area surrounding Fort Sto. Domingo, a police training facility where Misuari is held in a bungalow specially built for former President Joseph Estrada.
Misuari was brought to the Fort Sto. Domingo detention facility after authorities fetched him from Malaysia to face the rebellion charges filed against him.
He was charged with rebellion after the military crushed the attacks his men launched on Nov. 19 against military and government facilities in Sulu and Zamboanga City.
Misuari allegedly ordered the attacks to disrupt the eventually successful Nov. 26 election of his successor as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
His elected successor physician Parouk Hussin, himself a former rebel, later revealed financial irregularities in the ARMM and the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) which Misuari also used to head.
He was captured by Malaysian authorities on the frontier island of Sempiras on Nov. 24 while he was supposedly enroute to Saudi Arabia, where he hid as his men waged a 24-year separatist rebellion in Mindanao in the 1970s.
Misuari founded the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which managed to gain the recognition of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
The OIC, however, brokered a peace agreement which Misuari signed on Sept. 2, 1996.
"He should understand that now he is a prisoner facing charges, that he is no longer the ARMM governor," an apparently exasperated Perez told reporters.
Through his lawyers Macapanton Abbas Jr. and Arthur Lim, Misuari had asked the Supreme Court to allow him to undergo another medical check-up; to provide him with a laptop computer and laser printer; to hold his trial in Jolo, Sulu and to allow mediamen to visit him so he could argue his case before the people. Jolo is where most of his armed loyalists are based.
"(But) he has already been subjected to a physical examination before he left Malaysia and that it was done by Malaysian and Philippine doctors. We don’t see the need for further physical examination," Perez said.
Besides, the government is also providing a medical team within the Sta. Rosa facility to attend to the rebel leader round-the-clock.
The DOJ chief also rejected Misuari’s request for a laptop computer and printer because, Perez said, that is the reality of being indicted for a felony.
But the two other requests are no longer in the jurisdiction of the DOJ and ought to be decided by the Supreme Court.
"With respect to the media access, that is within the jurisdiction of the court. If he is already a convicted felon, the permission could be granted by the DOJ. Before conviction, the jurisdiction belongs to the court," he said.
Misuari had told the high tribunal that media access on a "regulated basis" would be amenable to him "just to let the people know the truth about my case."
Reporters, Misuari said in his request, should also be "allowed to enter the compound on a scheduled basis and accorded basic courtesies, like tents for shelter from the rains."
Government lawyers, however, feared this could be used as an excuse by terrorists and assassins, pretending to be journalists, to cause trouble and even danger to the jailed rebel leader.
Perez said it is also the high court which would decide the government’s plea to transfer the venue of Misuari’s trial, which would ordinarily be held in Jolo, Sulu where the charges were filed, to a court near or inside Fort Sto. Domingo.
The justice secretary said the trial should be held in Sta. Rosa or Fort Sto. Domingo because of the security situation in Jolo where Misuari armed loyalists are still roaming the countryside, aside from Abu Sayyaf rebels who are known to raid entire towns.