Talks with MILF rebs resume

Government negotiators begin today one last push for a settlement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) after President Estrada set a June deadline before handing the insurgency problem back to the military.

A government panel led by Defense Undersecretary Orlando Soriano is to sit down with MILF leaders in Sultan Kudarat this morning to begin formal talks expected to last four days.

"We expect to resolve a substantial number of issues that have stalled the peace talks," said Soriano. "We will be working overtime. We will be discussing more important issues pertaining to the talks."

The President on Thursday said he is giving the MILF six months to end its 21-year rebellion. "I am giving them until June this year to realize that there is only one government and one armed forces in the Philippines," he said.

The 15,000-strong MILF is the last major Muslim insurgent group in the country. Last week, the group occupied the Talayan town hall in Maguindanao and cut off traffic on a highway linking the major cities of Cotabato and General Santos, triggering clashes with government troops that left at least 13 people dead and 29 wounded.

The President had ordered an Army assault on the town, vowing to wipe out the rebels if they would not pull out. However, what could have been a bloody assault was averted when the guerrillas fled the area.

Despite a ceasefire forged between the government and MILF late last week, sporadic clashes between the two sides continued. Just the other day, Marine soldiers gunned down five MILF rebels and wounded three others in Kinitaan, Sultan Kudarat. The soldiers said they chanced upon the rebels who were patrolling the area and demanding revolutionary taxes from villagers.

But MILF political affairs chief Ghazali Jaafar said the clashes will not have a negative effect on today's start of negotiations.

"Both parties continued to express optimism on the result of this peace process," said Jaafar. "We see no major stumbling block on our formal talks."

It is unclear what the six-month slack provided by the President will achieve. But for the 20,000 civilians from Talayan, Shariff Aguak and Datu Piang towns who were displaced by the violence in Maguindanao, it will be a chance to return to their abandoned homes and farms.

Provincial health workers have warned that about 3,000 displaced villagers have been felled by respiratory diseases while taking refuge in crowded makeshift evacuation centers.

Meanwhile, a rash of violence between the MILF and armed followers of local officials in Mindanao may soon erupt and the military has been called to intervene before clashes start.

Local leaders in Shariff Aguak town passed a manifesto over the weekend urging the MILF to "respect demilitarized zones."

In Datu Piang and Talayan, barangay officials urged the military to give them guns and train their men to fight the rebels.

Michael Sinsuat, mayor of Upi town and president of Maguindanao's league of mayors, said something must be done before things get worse.

"The two peace panels should address this problem promptly. Otherwise, the trouble in the province would become complicated and the fight would be between Muslims and Muslims," he said.

Sources in the province said each mayor in Maguindanao has assembled at least 70 assault rifles, including machine guns and grenade launchers.

In Talayan, Mayor Udzag Midtimbang challenged MILF rebels to a gunfight "to settle the issue once and for all."

"These rebels have been misinterpreting Islam with all their lies. They intimidate people just to create the impression that they are strong," he said.

Even leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a bigger rebel group which signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996, are now reportedly at odds with the MILF.

Totin Basco, chairman of MNLF's revolutionary state in Datu Piang and Talayan towns, said many of the their model communities which foreign donors helped develop were burned in the clashes, displacing thousands of villagers. --