ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines -- Mayor Celso Lobregat Tuesday said much as he wanted the United States to establish a military base here, this would never happen because the Constitution no longer allows foreign bases in the country.

"I support US military bases, that's all right, but our Constitution no longer allows it," Lobregat said, adding his dream would never come true "unless we'll change our laws and Constitution."

"But I want to re-emphasize that we support the US bases and [are] willing to have the US bases in Zamboanga City," he said.

Mohagher Iqbal, chief peace negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), slammed Lobregat's warm position on stationing US troops here, calling it a manifestation of the mayor's double standard.

Iqbal said while Lobregat wants US forces, who have been accused of committing human rights violations in Basilan and Sulu, the mayor rejected the establishment of a satellite office of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) in the city.

Iqbal said the establishment of an IMT office would have made it easy for ceasefire monitors to respond to and patch up hostilities involving MILF rebels in areas near Zamboanga City.

In Davao City, the Moro human rights group Kawagib also criticized Lobregat for his pro-US bases stance.

Sittie Rajabia Sundang, Kawagib spokesperson, said in a statement that Lobregat disregarded the "mounting cases of human rights violations brought about by the previous experience of the people of Zamboanga and the rest of Mindanao with the Americans."

Among these, Sundang said, was the case of Arsid Baharun, who was shot by US soldiers during a marksmanship exercise in Zamboanga City in 2004.

She said there was also the wounding of Buyung-Buyung Isnijal by an American soldier identified by witnesses as Sergeant Reggie Lane, and the 2006 explosion caused by a misfired US military howitzer in Sulu, which wounded 50-year old Bizma Juhan.

"Instead of listening [to] the complaints of the victims against US soldiers in Mindanao for numerous human rights violations, he is even encouraging the American soldiers to violate the rights of the Filipinos especially the Moro people in Mindanao by offering the city as site for military base," Sundang said.

She said the human rights violations occurred even if US forces were not permanently stationed in the country.

The incidents Sundang mentioned occurred during previous joint RP-US military exercises.

In Cotabato City, US forces will participate in a 15-day humanitarian mission according to Major General Raymundo Ferrer, commander of 6th Infantry Division.

Ferrer said this year's Balikatan (shoulder to shoulder) exercises will focus on medical and dental missions, as well as engineering works involving road openings and school building construction.

"They have their own equipment and the medicines they will use for the medical mission already arrived," Ferrer said about the Balikatan to be conducted in some parts of Central Mindanao starting February.

Iqbal said the MILF is wary because this year's Balikatan will be held in areas of Central Mindanao and some parts of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that they control.

"There must be coordination because our forces on the ground are concerned," he said.