MILF has 2 options on arrest warrants

DAVAO CITY — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has only two options if it wants the warrants of arrest issued against its leaders lifted, the city prosecutor’s office said.

Assistant city prosecutor Danilo Belo said the MILF could either file a petition for the lifting of the warrants of arrest or ask the Regional Trial Court for a reinvestigation of the cases against its leaders.

The court, Belo said, could not just quash the warrants of arrest without the necessary petition on the part of the MILF leaders.

MILF chairman Hashim Salamat and at least 200 other MILF officials are facing charges of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder for the twin bombings that struck this city last March and April that left 39 people dead and over 200 others wounded.

Malaysia has been pushing for the quashing of the arrest warrants to allow MILF officials to take part in the planned resumption of the long-stalled peace negotiations.