November 11, 2008 -  Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) Secretary Ronaldo Puno is not zeroing-in on the rescue of Fr. Michael Sinnott but engaged in plain smear campaign against the MILF.

This was the statement of Khaled Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF committee on Information, after Puno accused the very commanders of the MILF who are tasked to rescue the priest from his kidnappers as the ones who pulled the crime.

On top of this, Puno did not only accuse those commanders but also tagged the MILF as behind the kidnapping, which drew in the immediate ire of the MILF particularly Musa, who is proved to be very outspoken.

Musa said Puno wanted to destroy the reputation and clout of the MILF before the bar of public opinion, domestic and international, particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

In June this year, an MILF peace panel delegation was invited by the British Commonwealth Office to visit London and Northern Ireland in order to draw lessons from the Good Friday Agreement.

The delegation was led by Mohagher Iqbal and with Atty. Datu Michael Mastura, Maulana Bobby Alonto, and Abdullah Camlian as members.

Musa charged Puno of using the Sinnott’s abduction purely counter-insurgency approach by criminalizing and demonizing the MILF as terrorists through propaganda and legal offensives.

Musa predicted Puno will fail in his evil intention, saying that not only his “clout” is highly suspect, being one of the remnants of the hated martial law, but also his real intention.

“He is more focused on destroying the MILF rather than the immediate and safe rescue of the priest,” Musa clarified.

“It is good he dropped from the Philippine vice presidential race, because he will not win anyway. Who wants to vote for a man who has no integrity at all?”

Puno served the Martial Law regime of Marcos, disappeared from public eye during the Aquino administration, but only to return during the Ramos administration, continued to be in government despite being in the opposition during the Estrada’s presidency but abandoned him when he was impeached, and switched his allegiance to Arroyo when she edged out his boss in 2001.

Puno is one of the overstaying cabinet members in the Arroyo administration.

A known spoiler of the GRP-MILF peace process, Puno has no kind words for the MILF, which one analyst attributed to an inborn hatred for Muslims and Islam.