Estrada wants Mindanao problem over by 2004

President Estrada wants the Muslim insurgency in Mindanao to be over by the end of his term in June 2004, according to Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes.

"The President said he would like to solve the problem now so that the next president will have less problems than he is facing now," Reyes told the weekly breakfast forum of the Greenhills Walking Corp. at the Ristorante La Dolce Fontana in San Juan.

This explains the military's continuous campaign against the Moro Islamic Li-beration Front (MILF), Reyes told the forum hosted by STAR chairman and publisher Max V. Soliven.

Reyes cited the military's latest victory in the capture of the MILF's second biggest base, Camp Bushra, in Lanao del Sur earlier this week.

"If we let the next admi-nistration solve it, it will become a bigger problem. So let's solve it now. No pain, no gain," he said.

Aside from Reyes, Interior and Local Government Secretary Alfredo Lim and Sen. Gregorio Honasan, chairman of the Senate committee on peace, unification and reconciliation, were guests at the forum.

Honasan, a former coup leader, called for an end to the "vicious cycle" of bloodshed-ceasefire-peace talks-violations-hostilities in Mindanao.

He batted anew for a bill he authored proposing a comprehensive policy in effectively conducting peace negotiations with the rebels that would, hopefully, eventually lead to a settlement.

While calling for public support for the government's resolve to end the Muslim insurgency once and for all, Lim said the government aims to develop Mindanao because military might alone would not solve the decades-old conflict.

Lim also praised Philippine National Police chief Director General Panfilo Lacson and police task force members who tracked down and arrested the 26 suspected MILF rebels allegedly responsible for the two shopping mall bombings at the Glorietta shopping mall in Makati City last May 17 and at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City four days later. A janitor was killed in the Megamall blast.

Lim also declared that all law enforcement agencies remained on alert and were following other leads as well.

Despite his tough stance on the MILF, Reyes hoped that with the resumption of peace talks, the fighting will die down in the South.

"We don't want to eliminate them from the face of the earth as some quarters were accusing us," he said. "We have to convince them we can have peace within the framework of the Constitution."

But as for the Abu Sayyaf extremists, Reyes only had contempt.

"The solution for them is clear: we have to neutralize each one of them. They don't deserve to walk on the face of the earth."

Reyes was particularly angry at the bandits for mutilating or decapitating bodies of dead soldiers. --With a report from Mike Frialde