MANILA, 23 June 2003 — Peace negotiations between the Philippine government and Moro separatists is expected to resume very soon, with the government yesterday saying it was now ready to establish a permanent cease-fire.
The government issued the statement as it welcomed a public rejection of terrorism by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Earlier in the day, MILF chairman Salamat Hashim said that terrorism “is anathema to the teachings of Islam” and that his group rejects and denies “any link with terrorist organizations.”
The government has accused the MILF of ties with the regional militant Islamic network Jemaah Islamiyah.
“We welcome the fact that the MILF chairman has himself rejected terror and all acts of terrorism as a means to resolve differences and we hold him responsible for keeping all MILF forces in line and true to his commitment,” chief government peace negotiator Eduardo Ermita said in a statement.
“On the government side, anticipating further progress in the peace process, we are taking essential steps to establish a permanent cease-fire and formal negotiations leading to a final peace agreement,” Ermita said.
He urged Salamat to “make an unequivocal statement” affirming his agreement to a permanent cease-fire, the immediate start of peace talks, and to personally lead the MILF negotiating team.
Ermita said a formal request has been sent to Malaysia, which has been brokering peace talks, to deploy cease-fire observers in the southern Philippines.
Presidential adviser on strategic concerns Renato de Villa told reporters he believed both sides were moving toward a permanent peace and resumption of negotiations.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu told The Associated Press that during informal talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday, the government expressed willingness to “recall or withdraw criminal charges, including bounties on MILF leaders,” and to agree to a cease-fire with the rebels.
In his statement, Salamat said: “We reject and deny any link with terrorist organizations or activities in this part of the ASEAN region, particularly in the southern Philippines and elsewhere in the world.” ASEAN is the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Months of intermittent negotiations in Kuala Lumpur were suspended in March following a series of bombings and raids the government blamed on “terrorists” within the MILF. More than 200 people, most of them civilians, have been killed this year on the main southern island of Mindanao, where the 12,000-strong MILF has waged a three-decade-old insurgency for Muslim self-rule. The government is offering more autonomy for Muslim areas, but says it will never allow full independence.
The rebels have demanded the government pull out troops from seized guerrilla camps and drop murder charges against MILF leaders, including Salamat, over the recent attacks.
Despite a unilateral cease-fire declared by the rebels, which ended at midnight Saturday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has refused to resume talks with the MILF unless they publicly renounce terrorism and surrender guerrillas allegedly involved in the deadly bombings.
Yesterday, military officials said they recovered 450 kilograms of C4 plastic explosive, at least 165 kilograms of gunpowder, rocket-propelled grenade fuses and other explosive devices in a raid on an MILF bomb-making facility in the town of Kabuntalan.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Joselito Kakilala said the explosives were recovered after almost two hours of fighting Saturday between army troops and MILF guerrillas in the area, while soldiers were searching for two top MILF leaders, vice chairmen Al-Haj Murad and Ghazali Jaafar.
A report from the army’s 6th Infantry Division said two rebels were killed and two others were injured. Government troops suffered no casualties, it said.
Kakilala quoted a bomb expert as saying the amount of explosives was enough to blow up a 10-story building, or to manufacture more than 700 explosive devices.
MILF spokesman Kabalu denied that such an encounter happened. “This is purely fabricated. There was no ground encounter in the area the whole day yesterday,” he said. He said only government planes dropped bombs and injured “the inhabitants.”
