- MANILA: Philippine President Benigno Aquino came under pressure on Friday to abandon peace talks with Muslim rebels after seven soldiers and policemen were killed in the south, taking the death toll among government forces in clashes this week to 26.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels have been negotiating with the government to end more than 40 years of conflict in which 120,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced.
But the rebels have recently rejected government proposals and stepped up attacks. Army spokesman said the morale of soldiers was suffering as they were prevented from going after the rebels attacking them because of a cease-fire.
“It is time to untie the hands of our soldiers to fight the MILF on equal terms and not be handicapped by the so-called peace talks,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson told reporters.
“It’s time for PNoy to do an Erap,” Lacson said, urging Aquino, or PNoy as he’s known, to order an attack on the rebels as former President Joseph Estrada, or Erap, did in 2000.
Aquino has rejected calls for the suspension of the cease-fire and the launching of an offensive but on Friday he summoned senior defense and military officials to assess the situation.
