GMA vows to boost drive vs terrorism

President Arroyo vowed yesterday to boost her government’s anti-terror fight and asked Muslim separatists to show proof they had severed links with global terrorists before peace talks begin this month.

While the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has publicly denounced terror links, "we want concrete actions to come to fore (so) that the peace talks can move forward from a clean slate," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"The matter of the MILF purging and cleansing its ranks of terrorist links is a continuing concern of the peace process," said Mrs. Arroyo, who is attending a Southeast Asian summit in Indonesia, in a statement released by her office.

She voiced confidence that the deployment of a Malaysian-led monitoring team could be crucial "in exposing actual links on the ground if there are any."

"Our policy is to exclude any terrorist or terrorist-like elements from the peace talks and we are working on this methodically on various security and diplomatic levels," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo, who has announced she would seek re-election next year, said her platform would focus on her government’s preparedness for "the long fight against poverty and terrorism."

Peace talks between the rebels and Manila were suspended early this year after Mrs. Arroyo accused the 12,500-strong MILF of harboring terrorists responsible for a spate of deadly bombings in the south. — AFP