MISHANDLING ----Mayor Rody Duterte had a mouthful about recent events, And he was not mincing words. For example, his readout of the Zamboanga incident was quite to the point. In so many words, he was critical at the way "those officials" mishandled the situation, starting mistakenly tagging MNLF's Nur Misuari as a "spent force". Admitting that Nur Misuari was his friend and with whom he could talk any time, he marveled at how the authorities just got it all wrong. For how could armed men, crossing over in several waves from the nearby island provinces with ammunition and combatants be unnoticed by Zamboanga and then to wake up one morning already in deep shit? "Simple! Utter failure of intelligence!" he boomed.
(Photo: "Yours truly" Klaus Doring & Mayor Rody Duterte)
DON'T MESS UP ---- He had his own thoughts on how he dealt with his own in Davao - something Zamboangagenos ought to have learned from. "I am a mayor of all - Muslims, Christians, rebels or criminals. MNLF or MILF or NPA's. I respect them for what they stand for and I hope they respect mine. I talk to them, I even go see them. But they understand me when I say" You don't just mess up with my city or you are dead!"
MNLF IN DAVAO ---- I recall how Nur Misuari also marshalled several months before the Zamboanga incident his forces in Davao City in a peaceful rally at Sonny Dizon's horse tracks at the Crocodile Park area in Matina, all with MNLF flags hoisted and paraded. After Nur Misuari in his usual fiery and kilometric speech anleashed his angst, they peacefully dispersed and went home. Only a massive traffic jam at the diversion road saw the worst of it.
(TO BE CONTINUED!)
