Ex-MNLF rebels used vs Sayyaf

Former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels, who are now integrated with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, were tapped as one of the lead forces in the offensive to free 27 hostages held by Muslim extremists in a densely forested mountain hideout in Basilan.

Officials said the former rebels had been given sufficient arms and ammunition to battle the Abu Sayyaf, one of the two Muslim rebel groups fighting for a separate Islamic state in Min-danao.

Yesterday, a platoon of former MNLF fighters in Zamboanga City was deployed to Basilan to start the campaign.

MNLF chieftain and now Gov. Nur Misuari of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had previously criticized the military for using the integrees as one of the main fighting units against their fellow Muslims.

In a statement last February, Misuari said such a strategy is "counter productive" to the peace process as well as the September 1996 peace pact between the government and the MNLF.

But Misuari's critics said the MNLF statement was a "hyperbole in reverse" since Misuari has also complained about the alleged discrimination suffered by the integrees in the Armed Forces.

Misuari said the military was not giving key roles to the integrees in the government's pacification campaign in the south.

Meanwhile, a local radio station here aired yesterday an appeal from a Catholic priest, one of 27 hostages being held by the Abu Sayyaf, for the military to stop bombing the rebel hideout.

Fr. Ruel Gallardo in an interview with local radio station dxXX said the attacks would kill the captives -- including 22 children -- who have been held for five weeks by the Muslim extremists in Basilan.

"We are all scared, we will die from the bombings," he said.

"If you want us to be released, let us do it peacefully through negotiations, not through bombings. It is not only bullets that will kill us but also terror," Fr. Ruel said.

He urged the government to agree to the rebel demands, which include the release of three Islamic militants jailed in the United States.

"Whatever the group's demands are, give it to them," the priest said. "Withdrawal of the military is the number one need right now if you want to save our lives."

It was unclear if the guerrillas had scripted the priest's comments, which came as the military began its fourth day of air and ground assaults on the 900-foot mountain where the rebels are holding their hostages.

Military reports said at least 28 people -- 25 guerrillas and three soldiers -- had died in the mountainside skirmishes.

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado accused the rebels of using the hostages as "human shields" in a bid to thwart the military assault. The guerrillas were hiding in bunkers while keeping the children and five adults in huts above ground, he said.

The Abu Sayyaf is one of two groups fighting for an Islamic state in the south of the largely Roman Catholic country. The other group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, is holding peace talks with Manila but has also been involved in occasional confrontations with the military.

As this developed, Philippine troops continued to shell outlying rebel camps as soldiers battled their way up a densely forested mountain toward the Muslim extremist stronghold.

The rebels have warned they will behead their five remaining adult male hostages if the military does not halt its assault.

Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Southern Command, said government troops were shelling three outlying Abu Sayyaf camps and have advanced just 500 meters away from the camps.

He said the shelling was limited to the three camps to avoid injuring the hostages, who are believed to be held at the main rebel stronghold further up the mountain.

"This is a hostage situation and we're considering the safety of the hostages to give them the best chance to survive," Villanueva said.

The assault, which began Saturday, has been slowed by heavy vegetation and by land mines, which have forced troops to employ metal detectors, officials said.

"We have rugged terrain and very thick forest cover. Our troops are operating under adverse conditions," Mercado said.

He said he was concerned that the rebels might harm the hostages, but that the military has no choice but to try to rescue them.

"We're holding our breath over what might happen to the hostages, that's our problem, that's our worry," Mercado told the Associated Press. "The rebels might attempt something if cornered."

A rebel spokesman said two hostages, including a child, were injured in the shelling of the rebel camp, but the claim could not be independently verified. The hostages have been forced to stay in unprotected shacks while the rebels have taken refuge in bunkers, a hostage told ABS-CBN television in an interview by cellular telephone.

Villanueva said the military and police forces have been placed on alert in Basilan and nearby provinces in case of efforts by the Abu Sayyaf to divert the military's attention from the Basilan offensive.

The rebels originally seized more than 50 hostages, including many children, from two schools in Basilan on March 20 for use as human shields after attacking another Army outpost. Some of the hostages have since been freed.

The group has demanded freedom for Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, accused of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks.

The demands were rejected by the Philippine government and by the US Embassy.

In retaliation for the abduction, a group of vigilantes seized 11 relatives of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani. They still held nine relatives after freeing Janjalani's pregnant wife and a daughter.

In other developments yesterday, Vice President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo was urged to take part in a peace process to end hostilities in Mindanao.

In a multi-sectoral dialogue in Davao City, women leaders said that Arroyo, being a Mindanaoan herself, should be actively involved in the peace process.

The Vice President had been a resident of Iligan City.

Arroyo said she was already doing her share in the peace process as secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. She said the DSWD had already organized peace corps volunteers. --