COTABATO CITY, Philippines--A top official of the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front has said they were informed by a Malaysian military official that the Southeast Asian country would abandon its facilitator role in the peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF if the talks remain stymied on ancestral domain issues.

Malaysia's defense force chief, Gen. Tan Sri Dato' Sri Abdul Aziz bin Hj Zainal, met leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Saturday at the guerillas' main camp in Sultan Kudarat and formally bade farewell on behalf of their contingent to the International Monitoring Team (IMT).

"He told us during his two-hour visit at Camp Darapanan that if nothing will happen in their partial pull-out with the IMT, they will totally abandon their role as main facilitator in the peace talks," Ghazali Jaafar, MILF's vice chair for political affairs," told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) on Sunday.

Malaysia has the largest contingent in the 66-member IMT, a body formed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference to monitor the ceasefire agreement that government and the rebel group signed in 2001 to build the right environment for the peace talks.

Both the government and the MILF have acknowledged that the IMT has been instrumental in ironing out problems that could have sparked renewed hostilities between the military and rebel forces in various parts of Mindanao.

Malaysia said the decision to pull out its contingent was prompted by its frustration over the progress of the talks. In December 2007, the negotiations hit a snag, particularly over issues on Moro ancestral domain claims.

"We discuss several sensitive issues. But you cannot expect us to divulge it to the public. We don't know too what will happen to other member countries to IMT after the pullout of Malaysia," Jaafar said.

Meanwhile, the Office of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process viewed with deep concern statements attributed to a Malaysian official blaming the government for unduly delaying the peace talks with the MILF.

"Assuming that the media report is accurate, we are disappointed that the Malaysian facilitator, Mr. Othman, still does not comprehend why the government has to adhere to our Constitution as framework for the negotiation with the MILF," Romeo Montenegro, OPAPP media affairs chief, said. He urged Malaysia to stay the course and help them instead.

"We have continually explained that the perceived delay is due to government's exercise of due diligence to address constitutional issues on the draft of ancestral domain agreement," he added.

In Lanao del Sur, Agakhan Sharief, chair of the Local Monitoring Team in the province, said residents were alarmed upon seeing military troops, under 103rd Infantry Brigade, move around in different municipalities of Lanao, including areas where the MILF has been operating.

"Many people are asking us about these alarming movements of the military but we do not know what to say because we were never made aware of these troops movements," Sharief said.

"We are afraid that misencounters would happen between the military and MILF guerillas because of uncoordinated movements of the government forces that would severely affect the civilian communities and, of course, the ceasefire and peace process," Sharief added.

He urged both the government and the MILF ceasefire committees to immediately look into the matter.