Sirawai town rejects proposal to host ceasefire talks

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The town of Sirawai in Zamboanga del Norte strongly opposed the proposal to hold the first consultations of the Malaysian ceasefire monitoring committee with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in their municipality.

An emergency resolution filed and approved Wednesday said that while they appreciated the efforts of the Malaysian and Philippine governments to put an end to the hostility, there is no basis for holding the consultation in the area.

The Malaysian observers are scheduled to arrive Sunday to hold consultations with more or less 200 fully armed MILF fighters coming from different places including those from Lanao and Zamboanga del Sur provinces.

Ceasefire representatives from both sides visited Sirawai Tuesday to conduct an inspection.

The filing of the resolution came after 200 MILF attacked a platoon of soldiers conducting security patrol that turned into a fierce gunbattle. The military pounded the separatist rebels with mortars, 105mm Howitzers and airstrikes that left an undertermined number of rebel casualties.

Sirawai leaders also said that the town is still recovering from past conflicts between Christians and Muslims and that the presence of huge armed groups would only result in confusion and chaos among the residents.