MANILA, 19 July 2003 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday ordered a cease-fire with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in an effort to resume stalled peace talks with the country’s largest separatist Muslim rebel group. She also ordered the lifting of the warrants of arrest against senior rebel leaders implicated in the series of bombings in the southern Philippines, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye announced here.
The peace talks will be held in Malaysia, which is brokering low-level negotiations since early this year. Malaysia has also asked the Arroyo government to quash the warrants of arrest so the talks may resume immediately. The MILF has praised President Arroyo and has ordered its soldiers to maintain an active defense until both rebel and government peace panels signed a general truce, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said by phone from his hide-out in the southern Philippines.
“We are happy with President Arroyo’s decision and we will also reciprocate by declaring a cease-fire,” Kabalu said.
Arroyo ordered the police and military early this year to arrest MILF chieftain Salamat Hashim and the rebels’ peace panel chairman Murad Ebrahim and other senior leaders in connection with the bombings. She also offered P50 million bounty for their capture dead or alive.
The military welcomed the government’s cease-fire declaration. “We fully support the peace initiatives and the resumption of peace talks, but the military will also continue its punitive action against terrorists to protect the civilians,” said the armed forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero.
