MILF hits Marines’ ID experiment in Sulu town

COTABATO CITY – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is ranting about a reported citizens’ identification system being experimented by a Marine unit in the Abu Sayyaf-infested town of Patikul in Sulu.

In its website (www.luwaran.com), the MILF identified the 3rd Marine Brigade, under Col. Natalio Ecarma, as the alleged proponent of the ID system for Tausog folk in Patikul, a known hotbed of religious extremists and members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf.

The MILF said the Marines have been holding dialogues with Patikul residents on the intricacies of the ID system.

It claimed that the ID system project is supported by the provincial government, whose incumbent governor, Hadji Sakur Tan, earlier had worked out the repositioning of government security forces away from the capital of Jolo to prevent possible attacks by the Abu Sayyaf and encounters between feuding clans in populated areas there.

The MILF said Patikul residents see the ID system experiment as a violation of their human rights and an affront to their privacy.

Sources in the Sulu political community, however, said the MILF could have been misled on the issue of the Marines imposing an ID system in Patikul.

A member of the Sulu mayors’ league said military units in the province have lately been prodding villagers to secure residence certificates from their respective municipal governments for identification purposes.

These residence certificates, or cedula, are legitimate and are required elsewhere in the country, the mayor, who asked not to be identified, said in a text message to The STAR.