Filipino rebels warn charges may threaten peace The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
MANILA, Philippines: A Muslim rebel leader warned the Philippine government Wednesday it risks endangering a fragile peace process if it files criminal charges against one of its commanders for fighting that displaced thousands of civilians.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas, some carrying their dead, withdrew from several occupied southern villages Tuesday following a three-day military offensive.
The rebels moved in despite a 2003 cease-fire, after the Supreme Court blocked a preliminary agreement with the government to expand an autonomous region for the Muslim minority in the south.
At least two soldiers were killed and 14 wounded. An army spokesman, Maj. Armand Rico, said up to 31 rebels may have been killed, but the rebels said only four of their men died.
Presidential spokesman Jesus Dureza said police were preparing charges against the local rebel commander in North Cotabato province, Ameril Umbra Kato, including arson, destruction of plantations, looting of properties and cattle rustling.
National police chief Avelino Razon said he was hopeful an arrest warrant for Kato would be issued soon.
The government accused Kato and about 1,000 guerrillas of occupying predominantly Christian farmlands last month and ignoring an ultimatum to withdraw, which prompted about 3,000 troops and police to launch a massive assault Sunday to dislodge the rebels.
But rebel Vice Chairman Ghazali Jaafar said any criminal charges against Kato and his men "may hamper the peace process." "I hope they won't do that," he told Radio DZXL.
"There should be no stumbling block to the peace process," he said.
The government had initially reported rebel incursions and the subsequent clashes displaced about 160,000 civilians. But Social Welfare Secretary Ezperanza Cabral, who arrived in North Cotabato on Wednesday, said 40,000 people took shelter in evacuation centers and the rest stayed with relatives or only briefly abandoned their homes.
She said they would start returning after authorities checked for booby traps and land mines.
The rebels have been waging a decades-long rebellion for self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's south.
The two sides, which signed a 2003 cease-fire, had reached agreement on the size of a future expanded Muslim homeland. But the signing of the accord was halted last week by the Supreme Court, which acted on a petition filed by Christian politicians wary of losing land and power to Muslims.
Jaafar said the rebels backed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's plan to create a federal state for them.
But such a move is deemed politically risky for an unpopular president. She has two more years remaining in office and the opposition has charged she is using the peace process as a way to change the constitution and possibly extend her term.
Associated Press writer Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report.
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