No ceasefire, but government offers self-rule to MILF:

COTABATO -- Take it or leave it.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), reeling from a series of battlefield defeats, was offered autonomy in its sprawling main camp by the government yesterday and given a one-month deadline to decide on it.

The proposal for self-rule was made even as President Estrada rejected a call for a 40-day ceasefire with the guerrillas, a group of peace activists said.

The activists met with Mr. Estrada at Malacañang to persuade him to accept "40 days of tranquillity for humanitarian action" in Min-danao.

But the President told them, "We regret to inform you that we think we cannot accept your proposal," one of the activists, Corazon Juliano-Soliman of the Trisectoral Conference for Go-vernance and Development, told reporters after the meeting.

Mr. Estrada reportedly said he was "implementing a strategy that is consistent with his position as President and someone who has to protect the Constitution."

Manila "will continue to implement the strategy of negotiations from a position of strength," Soliman added.

Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said President Estrada has ordered the military to continue hitting hard on all rebel lairs except Camp Abubakar, which could be used as a possible autonomous area for the MILF.

The sprawling 300,000-hectare camp actually straddles the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and North Cotabato.

During the second day of the peace talks, the government said it submitted its proposal of a "political package" for the MILF, which would be given 15 days to study it, chief government negotiator Edgardo Batenga told reporters without elaborating.

He said he will impress on his MILF counterpart Moner Bajunaid that "we have a guidance to finish the peace process by June 30."

Sources have said the package was essentially an offer to expand the areas of self-rule now enjoyed by the Muslim minority in Sulu, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and Tawi-Tawi.

A rival faction, the Moro National Liberation Front, won limited autonomy for Muslims when it ended a 24-year campaign and signed a treaty with Manila in September 1996.

Following a major month-long offensive in Mindanao, which resulted in hundreds of military casualties and the displacement of a quarter of a million people, MILF forces have seen the tables turned against them over the past week.

Fifty-five MILF rebels and five soldiers were killed during the past two days as the military routed the group from its second largest training base, Camp Bushra. The MILF's main headquarters, Camp Abubakar, also came under heavy fire.

Seventeen other MILF guerrillas were killed on Tuesday in a day-long mortar duel around a Japanese government-funded Malitubog-Maridagao dam project near the town of Carmen, Cotabato, said military spokesman Maj. Julieto Ando.

"There is no ceasefire," said Armed Forces Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva. "The MILF asked for the peace talks without any precondition and I think they are serious for their survival."

Bajunaid said his group will seek for a ceasefire, but this was also rejected by Batenga, saying this would only allow the rebels to regroup.

"We don't intend to discuss this at the moment," Batenga said. "We have emphasized to them that the government must uphold its authority in order to protect and preserve the integrity of the republic."

Batenga stressed the government was still insisting on a June 30 deadline set by President Estrada to complete the negotiations.

Meanwhile, a number of local leaders in Mindanao are pushing for the creation of a federal form government, which they believe could help solve the crisis in the South.

Misamis Oriental Gov. Antonio Calingin and Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Vicente Emano said they are actually supporting the call of Sen. Aquilino Pimentel to introduce changes in the Constitution for a federal form government.

Pimentel, chairman of the Senate committee on local government, had proposed for the conversion of existing geographical regions into component states of a federalized republic.

He said these states would be under the control of governors, who would be accountable to a central government headed by a nationally-elected president.

Pimentel expressed belief that a federal system would respond to the Muslim's demand for autonomy and, thus, keep the republic intact.

As the proposed federal system would require Charter changes, Quezon Rep. Wigberto Tañada said it would be best if the government and the MILF settle their differences first at the negotiating table.

"First things first," he said. "Before we talk of any constitutional convention, let's get the parties back to the negotiating table and put a stop to the war and the killings."

In a related development, Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona Jr. asked the government to be transparent in its talks with the Muslim rebels. He said that transparency will remove any doubts in the minds of the people.

AFP chief Gen. Angelo Reyes, meanwhile, said the military has been instructed to continue with its offensives even if there is an ongoing peace talk.

"If we do not solve this problem now, we will have a bigger problem later," he told the weekly Greenhills Walkers forum in San Juan.

He, however, admitted that a military offensive is not the only solution to the crisis.

"The Mindanao problem is very complex," he said. "A military solution will not work."

As the military continued to pummel the rebels, the United Nations said several of its member-countries have expressed their interests in continuing with their "peace-building" programs in Mindanao.

Among these countries are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Japan, United States, Saudi Arabia as well as the World Bank. -- By John Unson