MNLF rebels try to blend in with the hostages - Roxas

MANILA — Some of the Moro National Liberation Front fighters trying to blend in with civilian hostages in Zamboanga City were caught by government security forces when they could not recite Our Lord’s Prayer, Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas said.

In a televised interview on Monday, Roxas said one of the MNLF rebels even had a rosary with him, prompting soldiers to make a quick check on his identity.

“There was one captured where several civilians were walking or crouching towards security forces, and one of them was holding a rosary, and just to check because the security forces are trained to check all of those (who surrender). They were asked to say (The Lord’s Prayer),” Roxas said.

“So it’s not just a Christian- Muslim thing. It’s just that soldier or the policeman was suspicious because why hold this rosary as a sign they were hostages. So there was a very quick check, just a sort of quickness of mind.

“They were asked to use the rosary… they were not (able to recite it)… But quickly after, they confessed that they were MNLF and that they have shed their uniforms and so they were… captured,” he added.

He said there were around 70 MNLF fighters who were arrested when they attempted to blend in with the civilians.

“There were in fact 70 that have been captured and some of them were wearing civilian clothes,” Roxas said.

He said authorities are now investigating claim of some of the MNLF rebels that they had no idea or knowledge that they would be attacking Zamboanga City.

“This will all be a part of the investigation, it could very well be that they were fooled, it could very well be that they were lying. But we don’t know at this time.

“I think if they were indeed fooled or they were not told, I think that’s more reflective of the leadership they have. - that they have to put their people to get them to do these things,” he said.