MNLF leader's son jailed in Malaysia for Davao bombing

MANILA, Philippines — The son of a leader of the Moro National Liberation Front and a Mindanao lawmaker has been in Malaysian custody for almost two months now in connection with the September 2 Davao City bombing, multiple police,military and diplomatic sources said.

Datu Mohammad AbduljabbarSema, 26, was arrested on Nov. 24, 2016 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport upon his arrival from Bangkok aboard Air Asia flight AK 891.

Sema is the son of Muslimin Sema,chairman of the largest faction of the MNLF and Maguindanao Rep. Bai Sandra Sema.

Muslimin Sema is a former Cotabato mayor and is being considered for membership in the Bangsamoro Transition Council (BTC).

His mother belongs to the influential Sinsuat clan of Maguindanao.

The young Sema, who, a well-placed source said, is an Islamic scholar, had been tracked travelling to and from Bangkok, exiting to Cambodia.

When his 30-day visa-free entry was about to expire, he decided to go to Malaysia, intending to return to Thailand after three days. He was arrested upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur.

He is now in Malaysian custody in an undisclosed location that is reportedly not a police facility. The Philippine government sent law enforcement representatives to Malaysia to take his deposition last month.

A source said the mother is working for the release of her son through a pardon from President Rodrigo Duterte.

Another source confirmed to VERA Files that the father sought the assistance of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza on this case. The mother has also been following the case up with Dureza. 

The Semas also travelled to Malaysia last month to see their son. VERA Files tried to seek comment from MNLF chairman Sema but didn’t get any response.

In a chance interview last December 16 at the sidelines of the Pilipinas Conference at the Peninsula, Defense Secretary Lorenzana said the Philippines will request custody of Sema.

"Of course, of course, we will request so that we can bring him back to the country," Lorenzana said.

When asked about the implications to the peace process, as he is the son of an MNLF leader who will soon be appointed as BTC member, the Defense chief said, "So what? (Still we will insist custody) because he is a criminal."

Authorities said more than 12 people were involved in the terror attack on the Davao City night market which claimed the lives of 15 people and wounded 69 others.

Aside from Sema, seven suspects have already been captured in the Philippines. 

Three suspects were arrested on October 4 and four others in a follow-up operation on October 29 at the group's hideout at the Southern Philippine Development Authority Compound in Cotabato City. They are said to be members of the Maute Group.

Military and police files identify the Maute group as a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas led by Abdullah Maute, the alleged founder of a Dawlah Islamiya, or Islamic state, based in Lanao del Sur.

Police sources declined to give details on the younger Sema’s role in the Davao City bombing, pleading lack of authority to speak to the media. PNP Director General Ronaldo Dela Rosa did not return calls and texts sent by VERA Files.

Known as “Haring Bakal” (king of steel), the elder Sema was elected in barangay chairman of Rosary Heights 7 in Cotabato City in 2013. This is the same village where the other suspects in the bombing were earlier arrested in what is believed to be Maute group hideout.

The BTC is about to resume formal work revising the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law that will create the new Bangsamoro region to replace the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao. ARMM was part of the peace agreement between the government and the MNLF in 1996 while the BBL is part of Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed in 2014 between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, originally a breakaway faction of the MNLF.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”)