MILF FEARS NEGOTIATORS SAFETY: ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) has expressed fears that their officials sitting
with the government at the negotiating table might be arrested in the
absence of immunity guarantees.
Ustadz shariff Julabbi, MILF chairman for Western Mindanao and Palawan
areas, said the immunity guarantee which was adopted in the first round of
formal talks remained under study by higher government officials.
Julabbi said that the GRP panel led by Defense Undersecretary Orlando
Soriano has given assurances that the MILF delegates would be given
identification cards that will recognize them.
The MILF have asked the GRP peace panel to give the immunity guarantee to at
least 60 MILF officials who are participating in the peace process.
Meanwhile, the GRP-MILF technical committee is scheduled to sit down next
week to cluster the nine-point agenda that was submitted during the formal
talks held in Da'Wah Islamic Center in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao last Jan.
20.
Julabbi said the technical committee of both sides decided to reduce the
talking points as there are issues which just duplicate the others, such as
ancestral domain and agrarian reform.
He said the meeting, which was scheduled on Feb. 7 to 8 would determine how
the issues would be clustered into talking points. Phil. Star, 01/30/2000
GOV'T BRACES FOR MORE REBEL ATTACKS, PUSHES TALKS: The military has been
placed on high alert for possible terror attacks by the Moro extremist group
Abu Sayyaf after it threatened to launch a holy war against Catholic priests
and nuns in Mindanao, a military spokesperson yesterday said.
The military raised the red alert even as the government said it would
pursue peace talks with two other rebel groups blamed for a series bomb
attacks.
''Our troops have been alerted to take precautionary moves to forestall any
attempts by the extremist group to launch their spate of terrorism,'' Armed
Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Col. Rafael Romero told reporters.
Last week the Abu Sayyaf, a group operating mostly out of Basilan province
and nearby islands, said it would launch a ''jihad'' or holy war against
Catholic priests and nuns if they did not renounce their faith and convert
to Islam.
Church officials have been told of the warning and police have placed
additional security around churches in the South.
The military has placed the Abu Sayyaf's strength at about 1,000 fighters as
of end of last year, with a little over 500 firearms.
In Davao City, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said President Estrada's
June 20 deadline for the conclusion of the talks between the government and
MILF ''is not written on a granite.''
Mercado said he would recommend to the President the extension of the
deadline if both panels reached an agreement on substantive issues in the
next four months.
Mr. Estrada stood by his deadline when interviewed by reporters in Davao
City last week.
But MILF spokesperson Mohaqher Iqbal on Friday said his group was not bound
by the deadline.
Iqbal said the secessionist movement was rooted in problems with historical
roots.
The second round of formal peace negotiations between the government and
MILF ended Thursday with only minor issues discussed.
The third round is scheduled for March 8 and 9 at the Estosan Hotel in
Cotabato City.
Government and MILF members of the subcommittee on agenda setting are set to
resume today their discussion on the talking points presented by the rebel
group.
Both camps are also expected to sign a document that will give the MILF
peace panel members security guarantees.
Government peace panel chair Edgardo Batenga earlier said that only security
guarantees could be issued to the MILF panel members, and not ''immunity
guarantees'' as desired by the rebel group.
Batenga said the security guarantee would ''give all MILF members involved
in the peace negotiations a free passage so that their movement will not be
affected by whatever action that the government will take.'' Inquirer,
03/06/2000
MILF SAYS MILITARY CREATING WAR SCENARIO TO OUST ERAP: COTABATO CITY--The
Moro Islamic Liberation Front has detained three alleged military spies as
it prepared to resume peace talks with the government today at the Estosan
Garden Hotel here.
Quoting MILF military chief Al Haj Murad, MILF spokesperson Mohaqher Iqbal
said last night that the three government soldiers had been assigned to
infiltrate the secessionist group.
Iqbal said the soldiers had admitted that the military planned to
destabilize Mindanao and put the blame on the MILF.
Murad told radio station dxMS in a telephone interview that military and
police officials planning to unseat the President were creating a war
scenario in Mindanao to justify a military takeover of the country.
He said this corroborated what an Army general had earlier disclosed to the
members of the MILF peace panel--''that there is a destabilization plan by
military and police officials whose aim is to unseat President Estrada.''
In a speech before the Davao Multisectoral Assembly at the Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas convention hall in Davao City last night, the President said peace
and order problems were hampering Mindanao's development.
Expressing the hope that the troubles in Mindanao would soon end, he said
the government would put top priority on housing, food security and peace
and order during his remaining 1,556 days in power.
The Agence France Presse quoted Murad as saying yesterday that the three
''infiltrators'' were responsible for the bomb attacks on civilian targets
in three Mindanao cities since Friday, in an alleged military plot to
''paint the MILF as a terrorist organization.''
''These three military assets which we have uncovered have penetrated the
ranks of our troops. He said the three would be tried under an Islamic court
and ''could face the death penalty'' if found guilty.
But Gen. Angelo Reyes, Armed Forces chief of staff, laughed off Murad's
claim.
Mr. Estrada left Davao yesterday morning for Butuan City. At least 200
protesters massed outside the gymnasium where he turned over an ambulance to
the Agusan del Norte Medical Society.
When he returned to Davao in the afternoon, some 100 protesters from the
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan outside the BSP convention hall again met him.
Murad said during the radio interview that the bomb explosion Sunday night
outside the gates of the Catholic-run radio station (which injured seven
persons), along with the Friday bombing in Ozamiz City of two buses aboard a
ferry (which killed 36 persons, injured 28 and left 11 others missing),
could be part of that plot.
But Murad, who had just arrived from a two-month visit to the Middle East,
declined to name the plotters.
Murad drew attention to the ''factionalism in the military'' and cited the
recent relief of Lt. Gen. Edgardo Espinosa, chief of the Southern Command.
But while Murad warned of the alleged plot, he said the MILF would ''still
pursue the peace process.''
The second round of formal peace talks between MILF and government
negotiators is set to start at 10 a.m. today.
South Cotabato Rep. Daisy Avance-Fuentes, House deputy speaker for Mindanao,
condemned the bombings but said the President ''should not unsheathe the
sword of war.''
She urged Mr. Estrada to convene the National Security Council or ''an
expanded version of (it), if possible with civil society, religious and
opposition leaders in attendance.''
In Manila, senators warned of a possible spillover to Metro Manila and other
urban areas of the terrorist attacks in Mindanao.
And Philippine National Police chief Panfilo Lacson directed the Criminal
Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to help its military counterpart
look into the bombings.
Lacson dismissed allegations that the military and police were involved in
the bombings.
Dialogues
In Manila, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said the violent attacks were likely to
jeopardize the planned expansion of the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao.
The ARMM is currently composed of Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and
Maguindanao.
Following the series of hearings on the proposed expansion, Pimentel said
his ''most optimistic scenario'' would be the inclusion of Basilan, Cotabato
City and Marawi City in the ARMM.
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile pointed out that the nature of terrorism pushed the
terrorist to spread violent attacks to several areas.
Sen. Gregorio Honasan agreed with Enrile's scenario.
''If I were a rebel group, I will not pull my punches. Anyway, I'm not
supposed to be a lovable person,'' said Honasan, leader of the
Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa which led three of the eight coup
attempts against the Aquino administration.
Sanlakas Rep. Renato Magtubo denounced an alleged plot by the government to
put under surveillance priests and Church leaders in Mindanao who were
considered ''anti-government.''
Magtubo urged those on the watch list ''not to be frightened by this dirty
military tactic.''
Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri said the fact that the bombings in Mindanao
took place while Mr. Estrada was making a visit was ''a clear signal to him
that there is a growing tumor in the region that even dared defy his
presence.''
Zubiri said he had received reports from local leaders that Mr. Estrada's
visit to Mindanao was made to ''lure more members to the administration
party (LAMP) and boost its ranks.'' Inquirer, 03/01/2000
SOUTHCOM COMMANDER SACKED: The Commander of the military's Southern Command
has been sacked as fresh fighting with Moro separatist rebels left five
guerrillas killed.
No official reason was given for the relief of Lt. Gen. Edgardo Espinosa who
is to be replaced next week by Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the
Southern Luzon Command.
Army spokesperson Col. Rafael Romero said that Espinosa had asked to be
relieved so he could ''attend to some personal problem.''
Sources at Camp Aguinaldo said, however, that the armed forces leadership
was apparently dissatisfied with Espinosa's handling of the Moro
secessionist rebellion which resulted in the initial collapse of formal
peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
''It was to be expected,'' a senior officer who requested anonymity said.
Espinosa is also said to have incurred the ire of Defense Secretary Orlando
Mercado for his statements on the controversial pardon of priest killer
Norberto Manero Jr. which Mercado said were ''irresponsible and uncalled
for.''
Espinosa had been quoted as saying that Manero could still be qualified for
membership in the paramilitary Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit.
The defense secretary admonished Espinosa for speaking out of turn and
commenting on policy issues which defense officials should decide.
Mercado clarified that the AFP policy was not to recruit ''persons with
dubious records,'' adding ''there is no need for us to employ convicts.''
Romero downplayed this as the likely reason for Espinosa's sacking.
''He was not relieved because of his statement on the Manero case. He wanted
to have time to solve his problems. He was relieved because of personal
problems,'' Romero said.
Espinosa assumed the Southcom post in July last year. He is set to retire in
August 2001.
His relief has triggered a series of changes in the Army command structure.
The Southcom, based in Zamboanga City, covers the island of Mindanao, where
the government is fighting the 15,000-strong MILF, the extremist Abu Sayyaf
and pockets of communist insurgents.
The command has the largest single deployment in the country with about
40,000 soldiers, backed by a 35,000-member paramilitary militia force.
Inquirer, 02/26/2000
GOV'T, MILF RESUME PEACE TALKS: ZAMBOANGA CITY - The government and the
separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) agreed yesterday to resume
peace talks scuttled by fierce clashes during which the military seized a
key rebel camp, officials said.
Government negotiators and MILF leaders signed an agreement in Cagayan de
Oro City setting the resumption of negotiations on March 1.
"I told them we must move forward and forget what has happened," said
Edgardo Batenga, a former Army general who heads the government negotiating
panel.
"We arrived at the decision to save the peace process," said Lanang Ali,
legal counsel of the MILF. He said Batenga and his MILF counterpart, Aleem
Abdulaziz Mimbantas, forged the agreement.
Ali, however, said there was a need to "redeclare" a ceasefire agreement
signed in July 1997 to prevent skirmishes from derailing negotiations in the
future.
President Estrada said he has sent his personal emissary, Secretary Robert
Aventajado, who heads the Presidential Committee on Flagship Projects, to
meet with MILF chairman Hashim Salamat to discuss an end to the conflict.
Mr. Estrada earlier said he was willing to meet Salamat when he visits
Mindanao from Feb. 26 to March 2 as long as they would discuss only
development projects in the South, not the MILF's secession bid.
In the agreement signed in Cagayan de Oro, the two sides agreed to halt
clashes in Maguindanao, North Cotabato and nearby Sultan Kudarat province,
Batenga said.
A joint committee on cessation of hostilities will also be given stronger
powers to enable it to prevent future fighting, he said. Phil. Star,
02/24/2000
CLASHES WON’T KEEP MORO REBS OFF TALKS: Peace initiatives between Manila and
the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front would go on despite the
overrunning by government troops of one of the insurgents' main camps,
officials on both sides said yesterday.
''The road to peace, turning former foes who shoot at each other into
friends on the negotiating table, is really very difficult, but our
objective remains,'' Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said, after the
military took the MILF's Camp Omar Al-Farouk outside Cotabato City on
Monday.
Mercado said the government recognizes that the long-term solution to
decades of Muslim separatist fighting in Mindanao was a political
settlement.
He said the chief government negotiator, retired general Edgardo Batenga,
was scheduled to hold informal talks with his MILF counterpart Aleem
Abdulaziz Mimbantas in Cagayan de Oro yesterday to discuss the formal
resumption of peace negotiations.
The chair of the MILF ceasefire subcommittee, Eid Kabalu, said Mimbantas and
Batenga were scheduled to meet in Cagayan de Oro but would not give further
details.
Formal peace talks were to have started Monday but MILF negotiators pulled
out, demanding the offensive against Camp Omar be halted first.
Also yesterday, the MILF denied Speaker Manuel Villar's disclosure in a news
conference in General Santos over the weekend that the MILF was engaged in
massive arms buildup and recruitment.
Prof. Moner Bajunaid, chair of the MILF technical committee, told the
Inquirer that ''volunteers,'' and not recruits as reported, wanted to enlist
with rebel group.
Bajunaid described the volunteers as ''Mindanaoans who were already fed up
with the existing unjust social system.'' Inquirer, 02/23/2000
FIGHTING STALLS GOV'T-MILF TALKS: Peace negotiations between the government
and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have been indefinitely
suspended due to the skirmishes last week that left many rebels dead,
Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said yesterday.
Mercado said the government and MILF panels might meet tomorrow to discuss
when the talks can be resumed.
At Malacanang, President Estrada said the reported plan of MILF chairman
Hashim Salamat to meet with him is an indication that the secessionist group
is losing its armed struggle for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.
Mercado said today's scheduled peace talks were suspended following fierce
clashes between government and MILF troops that left many rebels dead and
soldiers wounded.
"The environment or the current situation is not conducive to peace talks,"
said Mercado, quoting Gen. Edgardo Batenga, the chief government peace
negotiator.
However, MILF sources said the postponement was made upon the request of
MILF chief negotiator Abdulaziz Mimbantes in deference to mourning and
prayer rites for Muslim guerrillas slain in clashes with the Armed Forces in
Central Mindanao.
At least 100 MILF guerrillas were reportedly killed and 27 soldiers wounded
during heavy fighting last Feb. 14 that ended with the Army occupying Camp
Omar, an MILF training site strategically located on a hill overlooking the
Cotabato-Isulan Highway.
The Army overran the camp in January last year, but MILF fighters wrested it
back after a ceasefire was declared during peace negotiations.
Hundreds of civilians were trapped after MILF guerrillas seized two villages
on the border of Maguindanao and North Cotabato on the days following the
Army attack at Camp Omar.
Last Friday, MILF fighters held hostage villagers in Kuaran, but they were
later released unharmed. The guerrillas had planned to use them as shields
to cover their retreat.
Last Saturday, troops started mopping-up operations in five war-torn towns
in Maguindanao, where villagers said more MILF guerrillas could have been
killed.
Military officials said nearly 100 MILF fighters have been killed after a
week of fierce battles between the Army and the MILF in three towns in
Maguindanao.
More troops will be deployed in the battle zone because the MILF continues
to harass and attack military installations as well as the civilian
population. Phil. Star, 02/21/2000
MILF SAYS MILITARY ON NEW OFFENSIVE: COTABATO CITY--The military plans to
drive out Moro rebels from their territorial strongholds in Central Mindanao
through an operation called ''Oplan Makabayan,'' the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front said yesterday.
Lawyer Lanang Ali, chair of the MILF peace panel sub-committee on
cease-fire, said the four-stage Oplan Makabayan was being implemented in
Carmen, North Cotabato, where a sizeable MILF force is based.
The offensive was also being carried out in Talayan, Datu Piang and Shariff
Aguak towns in Maguindanao, he said.
Ali warned that Oplan Makabayan could hamper the ongoing peace negotiations
with the MILF which Malacanang wanted to conclude by June.
Formal peace talks are to start on Feb. 21 between the government and the
MILF, the main armed insurgency in the South after the Moro National
Liberation Front signed a peace accord in 1996.
Ali described the offensive as being composed of the following stages:
clearing, holding, consolidating and developing.
Already, seven MILF rebels have been reported killed while a soldier was
wounded in the latest fighting in the hinterlands of the Talayan-Shariff
Aguak-datu Piang complex where the MILF maintains Camp Usman and Camp Badre.
Capt. Lito Aso, spokesperson of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, said the
Army had cleared a 40-km stretch of the Cotabato-Isulan highway of some 200
rebels.
Resistance from MILF rebels triggered a daylong firefight yesterday with the
military firing mortars, howitzers and artillery. Inquirer, 02/17/2000
2 SENATORS WARN ESTRADA OF NEW WAR IN MINDANAO: Senate defense experts want
President Estrada to take a closer look at the Mindanao security situation
as they warned against a full-blown armed conflict erupting in the South.
Senate President Blas Ople said the warning came from senators who had
joined the consultation hearings being conducted by the committee on local
governments on the proposed expansion of the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao.
In a news conference yesterday, Ople said Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, defense
minister in the Marcos government, and national defense committee chair Sen.
Rodolfo Biazon, a former Armed Forces chief of staff, have ''sensed the
gathering storm at the grassroots.''
From General Santos City where he has been conducting the hearings on ARMM,
committee chair Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said there appeared to be
widespread discontent even among Moro political leaders and that many people
were opposing the ARMM expansion.
Pimentel said ARMM Gov. Nur Misuari had a lot of explaining to do on why
autonomy in his region has failed.
Pimentel again criticized Misuari for not showing up at the hearings on the
proposal to expand ARMM.
Ople did not elaborate on the Enrile's and Biazon's report, but said the
situation in the South was already at a level where they (Enrile and Biazon)
''have asked me to arrange a closed-door meeting with President Estrada so
we could discuss the threat to Mindanao peace.''
He noted that while Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado has insisted that the
government was prepared for any upsurge of violence in Mindanao, the two
senators ''were skeptical of the AFP's preparedness to face a two-front war,
one in Mindanao from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the other in
Luzon from the CPP-NPA-NDF.''
Ople said Misuari's continued absence in the Senate hearings on the planned
ARMM expansion also lent credence to suspicions that secessionist activity
in Mindanao was being revived. Inquirer, 02/12/2000
BIG WAR’ COMING IN MINDANAO: They're preparing for war.
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said this yesterday as he alerted the government on a
plan by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to launch a Mindanao-wide
offensive targeting key Christian-dominated cities in the island.
Enrile said the rebel offensive will begin as soon as MILF military affairs
chief Al Haj Murad returns - with a cache of high-powered weapons - from the
Middle East in the next few months.
Enrile quoted "very reliable sources" in saying that the MILF has already
secured key highways in Lanao del Sur and that all residents of the
province, including children and women, are now heavily armed and prepared
for the "war."
A long-time defense minister under the Marcos regime, Enrile said that the
possible outbreak of hostilities in Mindanao could be worse than what
happened in the early 1970s when the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
launched its secessionist struggle in Central Mindanao and in Sulu.
Enrile theorized that the initial targets of the MILF offensive are the
Christian-dominated cities of Iligan in Lanao del Norte as well as Cagayan
de Oro City in Misamis Oriental which will both be subjected to a barrage of
mortar attacks.
The attacks, he said, would be carried out also in Metro Manila and other
key cities in the country to divide the attention of the government.
To counter the offensive, he urged the government to immediately mobilize
the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Units (CAFGUs) in Iligan and Cagayan
de Oro and other areas in Mindanao. He said these paramilitary troops can
block any attempt of the rebels to march to key cities in the area.
He noted that the MILF has already set up its own factories which are
capable of supplying its guerrillas with arms and ammunition for two months
of non-stop fighting.
Enrile's revelations confirmed reports last month that bared the plan of the
MNLF to set up a separate state in Mindanao. Phil. Star, 02/07/2000
CREDIBILITY PROBLEM HOUNDS GOV’T, MILF PEACE PANELS: COTABATO CITY -
Negotiators of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government
may not just have to intensify their efforts in restoring the cordiality of
the shaky peace negotiations, but also in improving the "deteriorating"
credibility of their respective panels.
Local peace advocates, among them members of the Catholic religious
community, attribute the "credibility crisis" now hounding both panels to
their failure to religiously carry out dozens of low-level agreements
formulated to prevent hostilities between state and rebel forces while the
talks are under way.
Oblate missionary Eliseo Mercado Jr., floor leader of the Southern
Philippines Council for Peace and Development, said this problem has left
people in areas often affected by the hostilities virtually confused about
the direction of the peace talks.
Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, admitted that they
have been getting feedback from various sectors that the credibility of the
two panels is "deteriorating" due their failure to really address the main
problem besetting the so-called Bangsamoro homeland.
Defense Undersecretary Orlando Soriano, chairman of the government peace
panel, said his group is trying its best to accelerate the peace talks and
come out with a lasting settlement to the nagging security problems in the
South.
Another influential peace advocate, Datu Michael Sinsuat, mayor of Upi,
Maguindanao and president of the province's League of Mayors, said that
apart from suffering from a credibility crisis, the two panels have not been
religiously furthering the cordiality of the peace talks.
Sinsuat said violators of the ceasefire must be penalized, but civilians,
not the military or the MILF could only ascertain these infractions.
Mercado, president of the Notre Dame University here, said he himself is
confused on why state and rebel forces have been killing each other despite
dozens of low-level peace pacts, "to the detriment of the people." Phil.
Star, 01/24/2000
TALKS WITH MILF REBS RESUME: Government negotiators begin today one last
push for a settlement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) after
President Estrada set a June deadline before handing the insurgency problem
back to the military.
A government panel led by Defense Undersecretary Orlando Soriano is to sit
down with MILF leaders in Sultan Kudarat this morning to begin formal talks
expected to last four days.
The President on Thursday said he is giving the MILF six months to end its
21-year rebellion. "I am giving them until June this year to realize that
there is only one government and one armed forces in the Philippines," he
said.
The 15,000-strong MILF is the last major Muslim insurgent group in the
country. Last week, the group occupied the Talayan town hall in Maguindanao
and cut off traffic on a highway linking the major cities of Cotabato and
General Santos, triggering clashes with government troops that left at
least 13 people dead and 29 wounded.
The President had ordered an Army assault on the town, vowing to wipe out
the rebels if they would not pull out. However, what could have been a
bloody assault was averted when the guerrillas fled the area.
Despite a ceasefire forged between the government and MILF late last week,
sporadic clashes between the two sides continued. Just the other day,
Marine soldiers gunned down five MILF rebels and wounded three others in
Kinitaan, Sultan Kudarat. The soldiers said they chanced upon the rebels
who were patrolling the area and demanding revolutionary taxes from
villagers.
But MILF political affairs chief Ghazali Jaafar said the clashes will not
have a negative effect on today's start of negotiations.
It is unclear what the six-month slack provided by the President will
achieve. But for the 20,000 civilians from Talayan, Shariff Aguak and Datu
Piang towns who were displaced by the violence in Maguindanao, it will be a
chance to return to their abandoned homes and farms.
Provincial health workers have warned that about 3,000 displaced villagers
have been felled by respiratory diseases while taking refuge in crowded
makeshift evacuation centers.
Meanwhile, a rash of violence between the MILF and armed followers of local
officials in Mindanao may soon erupt and the military has been called to
intervene before clashes start. Phil. Star, 01/17/2000
MILITARY-MILF HOSTILITIES ESCALATE: DAVAO CITY - At least six more soldiers
were wounded as hostilities between state and Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) forces escalated in the Maguindanao town of Shariff Aguak yesterday,
a week before the government and the separatist group resumes their formal
peace negotiations, the military said.
Officials of the Army's 6th Infantry Division said the clashes, which broke
out on Saturday, continued as of press time yesterday in five barangays
surrounding Camp Omar, one of the MILF's largest enclaves.
Both sides denied firing the first shots, claiming they were on the
defensive. The renewed fighting broke out as the Muslims' holy month of
Ramadan ended.
Reports said the skirmishes erupted when two Army platoons encountered the
Moro rebels in Shariff Aguak. The two sides fought for four hours, leaving
two MILF guerrillas dead, the military said.
After the fighting, the soldiers overran an MILF position, where they
found three bunkers, trenches, barricades and a tunnel, the military said
in a report.
Later that day, troops aboard three trucks, escorted by two armored vehicles,
were attacked by MILF rebels in the same town, triggering a firefight in
which two soldiers were wounded.
Some 40 MILF rebels simultaneously attacked troops manning a patrol base
in the nearby village of Upper Kambingi.
Peace negotiators from both sides are to meet on Jan. 17 in this year's
first round of formal negotiations aimed at ending the MILF's 22-year armed
struggle for an independent Islamic state.
It was not clear whether the fighting would force a cancellation of the
scheduled talks, although fighting often bogged down previous negotiations.
Phil. Star, 01/10/2000
ESTRADA SETS JUNE DEADLINE WITH MILF REBELS: Pres. Estrada gave yesterday
peace negotiators for both government and Muslim rebels until June to reach
a settlement that would end more than 20 years of insurgency in Mindanao.
The President warned he would order an all-out war against the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) "if the need arises," noting the government has
already given the peace process a "long enough time" to succeed.
His warning came after five days of fierce fighting between MILF guerrillas
and government troops that left at least 10 rebels and one soldier dead and
forced thousands of residents to flee their homes in fear of being caught
in the crossfire.
More than 200 fully armed MILF rebels also occupied the municipal hall of
the town of Talayan in Maguindanao province during the clashes. The
guerrillas withdrew from the area Wednesday after a ceasefire was forged.
The hostilities came a week before peace negotiators were scheduled to meet
on Jan. 17 for their first substantive discussions after formal talks were
opened last October.
Government and MILF representatives agreed Wednesday to observe a ceasefire
and reposition their forces. During the low-level talks, both sides
committed to strengthen coordination in monitoring the compliance of
their forces to the agreement. Phil. Star, 01/14/2000
