KORONADAL CITY, Philippines – Norberto Manero, known to many as Commander Bukay when he founded and headed the notorious anti-communist movement group Ilaga in the 1970s and 1980s, has joined the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a move that shocked his former comrades.
Manero was freed early last year after spending 23 years in prison for the killing of Italian priest Tulio Favali.
MNLF chief of staff Maj. Gen. Rodrigo Daud Fabillon said Manero was sworn in as a member of the MNLF in the presence of Chairman Nur Misuari during the field commanders’ consultative meeting in one of the MNLF camps in North Cotabato last Jan. 22.
Aside from Manero, Fabillon said two priests were also sworn in as MNLF members that day.
“We are greatly honored by Manero’s joining the MNLF. Chairman Misuari was also honored by his decision to be a part of the MNLF in its quest for peace and development in Mindanao,” Fabillon told The STAR.
Fabillon said Misuari appointed Manero as MNLF deputy chief of staff during the meeting, which more than 100 field commanders from across Central Mindanao attended.
Fabillon quoted Manero as saying in his acceptance message that his main purpose in joining the MNLF was to establish a good relationship between Muslims and Christians for the sake of peace and development in Mindanao.
“Manero now wants Mindanao to be peaceful. He’s tired of armed conflicts,” Fabillon said in Tagalog.
Reports said the government is considering Misuari and Manero to be part of its negotiating team to discuss peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the New People’s Army (NPA).
In a Radyo Bombo interview, the government’s new peace panel chairman, Rafael Seguis, however, refused to comment on the matter.
Ustadz Murshi Ibrahim, secretary general of the MNLF-Misuari faction, also confirmed Manero’s membership in the MNLF.
Manero’s move, however, shocked field commanders of the Reformed Ilaga Movement, whose members are relatives of former Ilagas and Christian farmers affected by MILF attacks in North Cotabato last year.
MILF guerrillas went into a rampage after the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional its proposed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain with the government.