MILF warns GIs: Keep off our areas

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) separatist rebels warned yesterday that deploying US combat forces near their strongholds in Mindanao could draw the visiting forces into clashes, resulting in American casualties.

President Arroyo said on Friday she has made a "pretty final" decision to change the venue of planned war games involving US and Philippine troops from Sulu because of public opposition there.

This gave rise to the possibility of holding the maneuvers elsewhere in the country’s impoverished south, including provinces where government troops are battling the MILF, which has been fighting for a separate Muslim state for decades.

Mrs. Arroyo said many southern provincial governors have asked her to transfer the exercise, dubbed "Balikatan," to their areas. Recent fighting has raged in North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces, both in Mindanao, where the MILF has a strong presence.

Mrs. Arroyo said she would not mind shifting the maneuvers to North Cotabato.

However, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said they oppose American military presence near their strongholds but would not ask that the exercise be moved.

"The Americans are not our enemies, but if they’re drawn in encounters and suffer casualties, it’ll be the full responsibility of the Philippine government," Kabalu told the Associated Press by telephone. "We would not be blamed."

Kabalu said the MILF does not consider Washington an adversary, citing a meeting in Manila in January between US Embassy officials and representatives of an MILF-established agency to discuss possible American help in rehabilitating Muslim areas devastated by years of war.

MILF chairman Hashim Salamat also sent a letter to US President George W. Bush last January to clarify American concerns about the group. Kabalu declined to disclose the contents.

US and Philippine defense officials are discussing where to hold the joint exercises. A six-month exercise last year on Basilan island was credited for breaking up the Abu Sayyaf Islamist kidnap gang.

Many Abu Sayyaf commanders and members, however, managed to flee and join a faction in nearby Sulu, where they are holding seven hostages abducted last year.

Plans to deploy American forces in Sulu, however, became embroiled in controversy when unidentified US defense officials said in Washington that American soldiers would be allowed to fight the Abu Sayyaf despite a ban on foreign troops joining local combat.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Arroyo said over the weekend that according to surveys conducted by her office, most Filipinos are in favor of military offensives in dealing with the MILF.

Despite choosing a military option, most survey respondents were undecided over what position her administration should take on the Iraq crisis, Mrs. Arroyo said.

Appearing in a television newsmagazine program, "Magandang Gabi Bayan" on ABS-CBN Saturday night, Mrs. Arroyo said the surveys are conducted regularly by her office to determine public sentiment.

"In Mindanao, sad to say, the people really wanted us to take military offensives," she told program host Sen. Noli de Castro in a live interview. "Sometimes, I have to do what’s unpopular."

She did not say how regular the surveys were conducted and how many people were surveyed, except that most of the respondents are Metro Manila residents.

Admitting the survey’s limits, Mrs. Arroyo said her administration sometimes consults people in the provinces on certain issues. "I always consult with our legislators here."

Lawmakers who favor a tougher stand on the MILF outnumber those who favor negotiations, Mrs. Arroyo added without elaborating.

The MILF has been blamed for a spate of attacks on civilians across Mindanao, including a bomb blast at Davao City’s international airport on March 4 that killed an American missionary and 20 other people.

On the looming US-led war on Iraq, Mrs. Arroyo stressed that her administration will only support military action on Iraq if authorized by the United Nations Security Council, which remains deeply divided over the crisis.

The President has run into domestic opposition for supporting US calls for Iraq to destroy its weapons of mass destruction, which Washington accuses Baghdad of possessing in violation of a UN resolution.

Mrs. Arroyo has been the most vocal Asian leader in supporting US calls for Iraq to disarm as well as the US-led global war on terrorism.

If Washington goes to war without UN authorization, Mrs. Arroyo will convene a national security meeting to determine what position her government should take. — Delon Porcalla