JAKARTA (IslamOnline) - The Bangsamoro people of Mindanao are calling on the Philippines Congress to pursue the impeachment process instead of calling for President Joseph Estrada's resignation. This development comes after the pulling out of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) from the backdoor negotiation table with Estrada’s administration.

Citing Estrada's failed promises to the Muslim people, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Assistant Secretary Habib Jamasali Abdurahman said his constituents prefer that a constitutional process be followed.

Abdurahman said such a stand shows that Bangsamoros recognize the Philippine Constitution. However, Abdurahman was talking on behalf of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which signed a peace treaty with the Philippines government in the early 1980s.

MNLF leader Nur Misuary is currently acting as the governor of the ARMM and is said to have insisted that there will be no support for the Estrada administration due to failed promises.

Both the MNLF and Estrada’s government are under pressure from the MILF, which is gearing up its call for jihad, or holy struggle.

The MILF has not relinquished from attacking and harassing Filipino troops stationed in Mindanao and other provinces with a Muslim Bangsamoro majority.

Abdurrahman nevertheless admitted if the current political crisis took place before the signing of the peace agreement, active members of the MNLF would not have recognized the constitution.

Adding to Muslim ire over Estrada, Muslims in the Philippines are said to be sickened by allegations that Estrada gave a large sum of money to the Muslim Youth Foundation, money which came from illegal gambling commissions.

"Anything that is given to the Muslims that came from illegal activities is not good, or haram," he said.

Aside from the gambling controversy, the Muslim community is also reportedly disgusted with Estrada’s administration when it ordered an all-out military operation in Cotabato against the MILF.

Islamic Doctorate of the Philippines Chairman Macapanton Abbas said the Muslim community was further hurt by the military assault against the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu. 

The Muslim scholar stressed that Estrada had also promised to establish a "little Malacañang" in Mindanao which he has not yet fulfilled.

The MILF informed the press that they backed out from backdoor negotiations that were going on between them and members of the Estrada administration. The organization said that it could not trust an administration that had constantly lied to Muslims and did not take peace seriously.

In another deadly encounter with the MILF, Philippine Army troops reported killing 13 Muslims when they forced about 100 MILF supporters, on their way to attack a southern army camp early Monday, to retreat.

The Muslim soldiers were traveling on foot towards an army battalion headquarters in Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte province at dawn when soldiers spotted them 4 kilometers from the military camp, the officials said. 

The MILF were accompanied by three unidentified Caucasians who were apparently television journalists, the spokesman said. Army spokesman Major Johnny Macanas added there were no indications the foreigners were hurt in the clash. 

The bodies of three Muslims, along with three rifles, were recovered by army troops, he said. Major Macanas said they learned about the death of 10 other Muslims after monitoring conversations over two-way radios. 

The rest of the fighters fled with the foreigners when troop reinforcements arrived, he said.