MNLF Commander Ustadz Yahcub Mahmud

I met the MNLF commander in October 2016. He had agreed to meet us in Jolo, and drove from his camp in Bitanag, Panamao. While we were guarded by over 16 PNP SAF personnel, he came alone without guards and was just escorted by his teen-age son.

Ustadz Yahcub, a key officer of Nur Missuari, had gone to Syria and studied in one of its military academies before returning to Sulu. During the Zamboanga siege led by Ustadz Habier Malik, Ustadz Yahcub stayed in Sulu and refused to join the rogue faction, not believing in the particular course of action that Malik had undertaken..

He had established Camp Jahal Uhud as a zone of peace, a place which would not shelter kidnappers nor be the launching pad of military operations.

"A peace zone should allow our children to go to school, our farmers to farm so that there will be sufficient food on the table, not just the absence of war."

When we met again not long after that first encounter, I had asked him if I could do a documentary about him. I wanted to present real people and their narratives to add to the discussion on the complex Moro issue. He asked me what would people possibly be interested in hearing from him, then chuckled.

With his sudden passing in December 2017, I would no longer be able to sit down with him and capture our conversations on video. I could write and speak about the things we talked about and discussed, but it would have been different if the words came from his mouth.