Arroyo gave the military free rein to punish MILF

MANILA, May 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Philippines decided Tuesday, May 6, to scrap envisaged peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which was to be hosted by Malaysia this week, as the military retrieved the last of eight persons who were reportedly held hostage by MILF fighters.

President of Philippine Gloria Arroyo scrapped the May 9-11 meetings and instead gave the military free rein to retaliate "terrorism" allegedly "committed by the MILF" after attacks on Mindanao island that have left at least 83 people dead and hundreds wounded since March, Agance France-Presse (AFP) reported.

MILF has been waging a 25-year campaign to set up an independent Islamic state in the southern third of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippine islands.

"We shall not stand for terrorism in the guise of a fight for freedom. We shall pursue peace only under the rule of law and constitutional order," Arroyo said in a statement.

"Government negotiators would inform the Malaysian government of our wish to postpone the exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur until we can establish more auspicious circumstances to move the peace process forward," she said.

"We shall pursue an all-out legal offensive against the leaders of the MILF while conducting punitive action against the direct perpetrators of terrorist acts," Arroyo noted.

"The government will not stand aside as innocent communities are subjected to such inhuman depredations."

Military vice chief of staff Lieutenant General Rodolfo Garcia told reporters that Manila was "looking into the possibility whether the MILF should be declared as a terrorist group."

The Philippines government on Monday, May 5, offered an award of nearly a million dollars for information leading to the arrest of MILF chief Hashim Salamat and four other leaders, a day after accusations that the MILF raided the Mindanao mining town of Siocon.

Twenty-eight people, mostly civilians, were killed and dozens injured in the Siocon attack.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the group was still committed to the peace talks, BBC news online reported.

He stressed, however, that "it takes two to tango, if the other party is no longer interested in negotiation, then no matter how willing the MILF are to pursue a peaceful solution in Mindanao, what can we do?"

MILF senior peace negotiator Ghadzali Jaafar said all MILF leaders remained in Mindanao, warning that Arroyo's move was "another mistake by the government."

"We are not hiding, all our ranking officials are in Mindanao," Jaafar averred.

Philippines troops retrieved Tuesday the last eight hostage who were among dozens snatched by the attackers from Siocon and used as human shields. None of the hostages had been harmed.

Arroyo had hoped to use the influence of predominantly-Muslim Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to convince Filipino Muslims to stop their alleged support of what she called “terrorists”, relinquish their independence aspirations and accept a government offer of limited self-rule in the south.

But the MILF last week rejected a suggestion by Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak to cede their independence drive.