MILF wants another 'temporary area' to avoid encounters

With the peace and order situation in Mindanao far from stable, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has reiterated its proposal to the government for the creation or declaration of "Area of Temporary Stay" (ATS) in Sulu to prevent encounter between MILF forces and government forces pursuing Abu Sayyaf militants.

This was the statement of Muhammad Ameen, chairperson of the MILF Secretariat, in response to queries from both political and military elements of the Front in Sulu, who are already in sizeable number since 2001.

ATS is an area designated for MILF by both the government and the MILF Coordinating Committees on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), for forces of the latter to stay while government are pursuing the Abu Sayyaf.

ATS was first piloted in July-August 2005 during the government offensive against the Abu Sayyaf and alleged Jemaah Islamiyah militants holed up in the jungles of Guindolongan and Talayan in Maguindanao.

More than 500 fully-armed MILF forces vacated their camps in these towns o give way to AFP troops pursuing the Abu Sayyaf and JI.

The MILF has an existing ceasefire with the government, which was first signed in Cagayan de Oro City on July 18, 1997 but reinstated in 2001 after the all-out war waged against the MILF by then-President Joseph Estrada in 2000.

The ceasefire is in effect throughout Mindanao and Sulu, but both parties have yet to strengthen the mechanism of the truce in Sulu being traditionally considered an MNLF country.

The proposal was first forwarded to government CCCH chairperson Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea by his counterpart in the MILF Von Al-Haq last week while the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) troops were attacking Abu Sayyaf in Basilan.

General Gurrea received the proposal and promised to bring the matter to  his Principal.