ZAMBOANGA CITY, 25 March 2004 — No major armed skirmishes were reported yesterday between government troops and separatist rebels as the advanced survey party of a Malaysian-led international monitoring team arrived in the southern Philippines to inspect rebel camps ahead of the peace talks next month.
Both the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front confirmed that there have been no confrontation between the two sides since last week.
“So far there have been no reported major armed skirmishes between our men in the field and soldiers since last week,” said Benjie Midtimbang, chief of the MILF coordinating committee on cessation of hostilities.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a memorandum on March 17, reminding the military to strictly observe a bilateral cease-fire agreement it signed with the MILF on July 19, 2003.
The 12-member advance team headed by Brig. Gen. Dato’ Zulkifli Mohd Zain of Malaysia met with Maj. Gen. Trifonio Salazar, commander of the Philippine Army’s First Infantry Division in Western Mindanao, one of several areas where MILF forces are actively operating.
Salazar led senior military officials in briefing Zulfikli’s group about the security situation in the strife-torn region, one of the poorest in the Philippines.
No officials from both the Philippine and the Malaysian side gave any statement about the truce monitoring, but they allowed photographers inside the tightly guarded Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga City where the meeting took place.
Members of the international monitoring mission, who will oversee the implementation of a peace accord, will arrive soon after the assessment by the advance party.
According to MILF vice chair for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar and military spokesman Lt. Col. Renoir Pascua, the truce observers would inspect different rebel camps in Mindanao and meet with MILF and military representatives.
The field visitation will also include government offices, local armed forces commanders, MILF leaders and community members, as a prelude to the actual deployment of the international cease-fire monitoring team, a government statement said.
Though guns were silent in war-torn areas of the region, the rebel group expressed alarm over what they called “provocative” action demonstrated by elements of the military in various parts of Central Mindanao.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu specifically noted the deployment of marine and militiamen the other day in Kapatagan and Balabagan, towns situated in the borders of the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao.
Kabalu said these areas, where the marines were deployed, were part of Camp Abubakar where the monitoring team was expected to meet MILF commanders under their 101st Base Command.
Kabalu said the arrival of the truce observers, therefore, was a most welcome development.
“We are glad that the truce observers are finally here. Their presence and the expected arrival of the seven-nation international cease-fire monitoring team will surely boost the peace talks...,” he said.
Apart from Malaysia, the monitors are to come from Saudi Arabia, Libya, Brunei, Indonesia, Bahrain and Japan.
He said the advance team are to visit at least 10 major MILF headquarters — Camp Salman Al-Farise in Zamboanga Peninsula; Camp Salahuddin in Davao Oriental; Camp Khalid and Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat; Camp Bader and Camp Omar and Camp Abubakar as-Siddique in Maguindanao; Camp Rajah Muda in North Cotabato; Camp Bushra in Lanao del Sur and Camp Bilal Lanao del Norte provinces — and met with rebel leaders.
“We will brief the Malaysians on everything they want to know as far as the peace process is concerned,” Kabalu said.
The government considers the rebel camps illegal, saying it would not allow the MILF to put up a separate state because it violates the Constitution.
Sporadic clashes between security and rebel forces continue in the southern Philippines despite a cease-fire agreement signed last year by both groups. And military and rebel leaders accused each other of violation the fragile truce.
Manila also accused the MILF of conspiring with the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiya, believed to the Southeast Asian arm of the Al-Qaeda terror network of Osama Bin Laden, and behind the series of bombings and kidnappings-for-ransom in the main island of Mindanao.
The MILF strongly denied all the accusations and has publicly renounced terrorism, despite fresh government allegations that rebels were training JI militants inside their camps in Lanao provinces.
