ILIGAN CITY, 27 July —  The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday strongly denied government claims that the separatist group was putting up new camps in southern Mindanao.

A report by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) earlier said new camps are found in Munai town of Lanao del Norte.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu clarified that the area mentioned in the military report where new camps were supposed to have been established are within the coverage of Camp Bilal, base of the separatist group’s 303rd Brigade under the 3rd Field Division.

Kabalu said that even the military report mentioned that the MILF area commander involved was a Commander Bravo, the 303rd Brigade commander.

Camp Bilal is one of the seven MILF camps and positions officially acknowledged by the government through its peace panel in 1999, the spokesman said.

The other camps are Camp Abubakar As-Siddique, Bushra Samiorang, Rajamuda, Omar, Badr and Usama bin Zaid or Darapanan.

Kabalu expressed suspicion that the re-emergence of this issue is intended by the military to “recondition” the public mind to justify later attacks on MILF positions.

“Obviously, the government had been anticipating rough sailing on the second round of talks being held in Negeri Simbilan, Malaysia, due to the MILF hard-line stand on the full implementation not only of past agreements but including current agreements,” said Kabalu ina statement.

Even granting for the sake of argument that the MILF is putting up new camps, Kabalu said, there is no agreement entered into between the two parties that prohibits the MILF from pursuing this for self-defense.

He noted that MILF forces, under a suspension of offensive military Aaction order issued by their leaders on April 3, 2001, are advised “to stay put and remain on a defensive position with the instruction to strengthen their defense and hit back if fired upon by the enemy.”

Kabalu also said that MILF fighters continue to maintain “highly mobile guerilla positions,” a change precipitated by the massive offensive by government forces last year.