MANILA, Philippines?Government negotiators will proceed with plans to resume peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front despite Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno?s claim the secessionist group was involved in the kidnapping of Irish missionary Fr. Michael Sinnott.

According to Annabelle Abaya, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s adviser on the peace process, the government peace panel operates on the assumption that the MILF will face it in good faith when negotiations resume before Christmas, as targeted.

Abaya said she was confident that MILF leaders would address the "fractionalization" of their ranks, as implied in reports that "rogue elements" abducted Sinnott at the Columban mission compound in Pagadian City on October 11.

"The case of Father Sinnott is very urgent. We would like to [view the MILF?s] offer of assistance [in search efforts] as [a show of] confidence," Abaya said Friday morning at a forum sponsored by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap).

"We always remain open. We need to trust. Otherwise, we're not going to make any progress. We need to be very careful since we are handling something very fragile," she said.

In Zamboanga City, Puno said the government had prepared a rescue plan for Sinnott but that it would be carried out only if the situation got worse.

"It means that we are doing the police operation in earnest,? he said.

Puno added, however, that even with the planned rescue operation, the government was still ?going to try to effect the peaceful release of Father Sinnott.?

?There will be no rescue effort immediately unless it becomes absolutely necessary or his physical safety is in peril," he said.

Puno had earlier said members of the MILF 113th Base Command led by Aloy Al Ashree had taken Sinnott.

He also announced that the Philippine National Police and the Crisis Management Committee (CMC) led by Zamboanga del Sur Governor Aurora Cerilles were cutting off all communication with the MILF following this information.

Asked at the Focap forum if Puno's statements had put Sinnott and the peace talks in further jeopardy, Abaya said: "I cannot make any judgment ? I understand the secretary. I spoke to him but I do not have all the information? He is doing his job. He has reason to believe (the MILF's involvement) but we do not have the full report so I cannot comment on that."

"We have to count on (the MILF leadership) to control their people. In every organization, even in the government, there will always be fractionalization so we continue to engage (them) internally and externally," she added.

Late last month, Abaya's office announced that the government and the MILF have signed in Kuala Lumpur a document ensuring the protection of civilians in armed conflict areas in Mindanao.

Called the Agreement on the Civilian Protection Component of the International Monitoring Team (ACPC-IMT), the document was heralded as an indication of the future reopening of the stalled negotiations between the two panels.

Before this, the government and the MILF also agreed on the creation of a mediating International Contact Group (ICG) composed of "interested countries" and non-government groups as part of the "commitment to find a just and lasting peace in Mindanao."

Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, chair of the government peace panel, said Sinnott's kidnapping should not be regarded as a stumbling block to peace negotiations despite allegations that the MILF is involved.

"It is a kidnap case, a criminal act which is not related to the peace process," he explained in the same forum.

"I feel personally that this is very far in context to what we (have achieved in the talks) now. I have faith and trust in the MILF leadership. If I view them as kidnappers, well, I would not talk to them again," Seguis said.

Despite Puno's suggestions of MILF involvement in the Sinnott case, Seguis said the government peace panel will not drop plans to meet again with its representatives in Kuala Lumpur "to discuss the operationalization of the ICG." With a report from Julie Alipala and Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao