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COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Cotabato City Vice Mayor Muslim Sema asked that he
and the other officials being linked to kidnappings here and in nearby Maguindanao
be given their day in court.
On Wednesday, the police said formal charges had been brought against Sema, who
heads a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front, and more than 20 others for
kidnapping with illegal detention.
Also included in the suit were Sema’s brother, Councilor Sukarno Sema; former city
administrator and retired police colonel Ismael Daulog; and Mayor Salaban
Diocolano of Kabuntalan, Maguindanao.
Sema said he was denying any involvement in the kidnappings, including the Jan. 8
abduction of hardware store owner Eulogio Yu.
Sema said when he was mayor, his administration worked closely with the military
and the police to resolve kidnappings, which, he said, were stalling the city’s
economic development.
Chief Supt. Gil Meneses, Central Mindanao police chief, said the revised information
was filed after seven kidnap suspects arrested in General Santos a few weeks ago
implicated Sema and the other personalities in a kidnapping syndicate operating in
the region.
"I do not know these witnesses that implicated us in the case. I have been an anti-
kidnap advocate since 1998 when I assumed as mayor of the city and now they are
telling us we are involved in this?" said Sema.
He vowed to face his detractors and “will not stop until the people behind it are
unmasked and made answerable for what they are doing.”
Sema said he was confident he would be able to prove the allegations wrong.
“We will have our day in court and defend our innocence,” he said.