PI dissolves peace panel with Muslim rebels

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the dissolution of the team negotiating with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in order to refocus the talks to include other sectors that will be directly affected by the peace process.

"The president has ordered that the government peace panel with the MILF be dissolved to re-align all peace initiatives in accordance with the new policy," Presidential Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.

Ermita added that any peace negotiations with armed groups, including the 12,000-strong MILF, "will be in the context of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration." 

Arroyo said the government will continue to talk peace in Mindanao, where poverty is among the highest in the country, but the negotiations would include other sectors of society who will help in formulating the roadmap for the peace process.

"The peace process must proceed but only after we have expanded the number of stakeholders for consultations," Arroyo said in a statement. "Our commitment is to peace, the constitutional process and the rule of law." 

Ermita said Arroyo dispatched National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales to Kuala Lumpur to explain to the Malaysian government the circumstances behind the decision to dissolve the peace panel.

Malaysia is the third-party mediator in the peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF.

Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, said the government's decision to disband its negotiating team should not hurt the peace talks.

"That is normal," he said. "The government peace panel can be composed again. Dissolving the peace panel is different from cutting off from the peace talks." 

Two MILF commanders led a series of deadly attacks in a number of provinces in Mindanao last month, triggering fighting with the military that displaced nearly 480,000 people. Some 66 civilians, 110 rebels and 17 soldiers were killed in the hostilities.

The fighting erupted after the Supreme Court stopped the signing of an agreement expanding an existing six-province autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao due to questions over its constitutionality.

Arroyo scrapped the deal after Christian politicians claimed some provisions of the deal violated the constitution. But the MILF said the government should honour the deal, which was a product of more than four years of negotiations.//Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) - September 3, 2008