MANILA, Philippines—Opposition leader Manuel Roxas II has urged the military to “smother” violence-torn Central Mindanao with troops and set up security zones to protect villages before resuming peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The Liberal Party senator made the call during a dinner with Inquirer editors and reporters on Thursday night, even as Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. rejected calls for an all-out war against the rebels, warning a full-scale offensive could provoke “a religious war which we do not want.”

Roxas said there was a danger that violence in the affected provinces could escalate, noting that even the Ilaga—a Christian vigilante group—had threatened to retaliate against the rebels that pillaged villages in the provinces of North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte earlier this month.

“The AFP must smother the area with government troops. If there are going to be vigilantes, in the end, the military will be caught between the Christians and Muslims,” Roxas said.

He said the peace process must be pursued “but we have to start on the right foot and that is having established law and order in Central Mindanao,” he said.

Roxas said government forces should establish “security zones” even after they have arrested MILF Commander Ameril Ombra Kato and Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo.

“At that point, we can start talking again with the MILF,” Roxas said.

Kato and Bravo were alleged to have led the MILF raids in Central Mindanao. The fighting has left dozens of civilians and soldiers dead and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.
The military claimed more than 100 rebels had been killed but the MILF said it had suffered only seven dead.

Danger of religious war

Teodoro, talking with reporters Friday, spurned calls for an all-out war against the MILF—which the Estrada administration pursued in 2000—“because that would mean Christians versus Muslims in the end.”

“I didn’t want to mention that in the past but right now we must call a spade a spade. An all-out war means the potential, a very strong potential, to have a religious war which we do not want,” Teodoro said.

He also said: “We cannot countenance any atrocity from [any] side whatsoever. We continue to work with our Muslim brothers ... We must actively work at preventing the spread of this conflict to ordinary people based on what they believe in.”

The military said “sporadic” fighting had continued in Maguindanao province.

Col. Marlou Salazar, head of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, said yesterday’s fighting was concentrated in a marshland area in Guindolongan complex.

Salazar said there were unconfirmed reports that two MILF commanders were killed in Thursday’s aerial strikes in the province.

Local officials in Maguindanao reported that the fighting occurred around Datu Anggal town. They said hundreds of residents were seen fleeing Barangay Muslim, a rice-farming community in the town, toward the national highway connecting the cities of Cotabato and General Santos.

Datu Anggal Mayor Nathaniel Midtimbang said the residents were surprised at the resumption of hostilities because they were supposed to be going to mosques for the Friday community prayers.

A member of the local ceasefire monitoring team said loud explosions were heard as Air Force planes flew over the towns of Guindolongan, Talitay, Datu Piang, Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Mamasapano.

Residents reported 20 loud explosions apparently from bombs.

No alliance

Teodoro held a press briefing along with Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader and Cotabato City Mayor Muslimen Sema to announce that the government and the MNLF were working on full implementation of their 1996 peace agreement, including disarmament of MNLF guerrillas.

The MNLF used to be the biggest Muslim separatist group in Mindanao.

“The MNLF remains to be a partner of the national government in the implementation of peace and development,” Sema said.

In a separate press conference, MNLF founder Nur Misuari denied reports that the MNLF and the MILF had joined forces to fight the government.

Puno said some 1,600 former MNLF fighters had joined the Philippine National Police and 5,000 others were now with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

In Dipolog City, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Alexander Yano told more than 300 participants of the 17th Mindanao Business Conference that he would “not postpone the enforcement of the law [against the Kato and Bravo groups] because of Ramadan.”

Yano said security measures were in place in Mindanao’s urban centers.

In Metro Manila, the chief of the National Capital Regional Police Office Chief, Director Geary Barias, said a check of intelligence reports that MILF rebels were now in the metropolis had proved negative.

“So far, there’s no direct threat and Metro Manila is safe from any attack,” he said.

One intelligence report claimed that Bravo’s men had been sent to Metro Manila to conduct “terrorist activities.” Another said four members of an MILF “liquidation squad” had been seen in Maharlika Village in Taguig City.

Muslims’ prayer

On Friday, around 1,000 Muslims prayed at the Blue Mosque in Maharlika Village for an end to the fighting between the government and the MILF.

Around 40 policemen were deployed to secure the perimeter of the mosque, police said. With reports from Nancy Carvajal, Alcuin Papa and Julie M. Aurelio, in Manila; and Louie M. Rodaje, Ed General, Nash Maulana and Ryan Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao