RP ‘surprised’ at Malaysia monitors’ pullout (tags)
he Philippines on Tuesday said it was surprised at Malaysia’s decision to end its monitoring mission to the troubled southern Mindanao island this year. The government’s chief peace adviser Jesus Dureza said he had just finished a trip to Kuala Lumpur and officials there had given “no indication of any announcement of total withdrawal.” “I feel that we, as neighbors, should be working very closely for peace,” Dureza said. “I am confident that Malaysia will be with us all the way.”
Delay in peace talks deliberate, says MILF (tags)
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Muslim separatist rebel group in the country, accused Manila on Wednesday of delaying the peace talks. Manila is negotiating peace with the MILF, an army of about 12,000 rebels with millions of Muslim supporters. Peace talks were stalled after both sides failed to sign an agreement on the Muslim ancestral domain.
State raises concession in ultimatum to MILF (tags)
Making it more apparent that it is walking on eggshells on the matter, the government yesterday said while its set deadline for it had lapsed last Sunday, its doors are still open to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to surrender its members who were responsible for killing 14 Marines soldiers after an encounter in the island province of Basilan in the South two weeks ago. Government peace panel chief Rodolfo Garcia told reporters in an interview that even after its ultimatum had passed with the Muslim secessionist group ignoring its call, the government still hopes the MNLF’s leadership would be honorable enough to yield its members who killed 14 Marines soldiers, and even beheaded and mutilated the bodies of 10 of them, in an accidental clash in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan last July 10.