Gov't looking at options to preserve gains of pact with MILF

MANILA, Philippines – Troops from other countries will replace the contingents from Malaysia and Brunei once they pull out from the international team monitoring the ceasefire between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the government said yesterday.

However, chief government negotiator Rodolfo Garcia said the matter has not been formally discussed at the higher levels of government.

“For the immediate term, if there is no turning back (in the pullout of Malaysia and Brunei), I believe the joint ceasefire committee (of the government and the MILF) would have to work much harder. That is for the short term,” he told The STAR.

“It takes time to recompose a new team. In the meantime, we have to shore up the ceasefire committee to cover the absence of the Malaysians.”

Garcia said the socio-economic component of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) from Libya and Japan will remain, although the government is not sure if they are also considering a pullout.

“The withdrawal of Malaysia sends a signal to the others,” he said.

“Of course they could be affected. Nevertheless, Libya and Japan stayed the course because they’re doing very important work.”

It had been a long-term plan to gradually convert the IMT from a predominantly military body to a socio-economic team, Garcia said.  – Paolo Romero, Roel Pareño, John Unson