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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: The Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF) ordered its forces to stay out of Filipino elections as
campaign begins for next month’s polls in the Muslim autonomous
region.
Elections in the six-province autonomous region
have been set in August 11 where more than one million Muslims are
to elect their new set of officials. The MILF said it does not
recognize the Philippine Constitution and in the past did not
participate in any elections.
The MILF last month ordered rebels to refrain
from participating in the polls, but renewed its calls after a
purported press statement from rebel chieftain Murad Ebrahim urged
Manila to postpone the ARMM elections.
“ARMM did not and cannot cater to the basic
needs of the Bangsamoro people and instead has worsened their
already depressed condition and added confusion to the populace,”
Murad said.
The statement, allegedly signed by Ebrahim and
the leader of the former rebel group Moro National Liberation Front
(MNLF) Muslimin Sema, urged President Gloria Arroyo to postpone or
scrap the polls because they pose a “grave obstacle” to the
ongoing peace negotiations between Manila and the MILF, including
the MNLF tripartite talks.
Eid Kabalu, a rebel spokesman, branded the press
statement as fake and warned journalists to verify the authenticity
of its source.
“We have not issued any statement urging the
government to scrap or postpone the ARMM elections. The MILF has
ordered all its members and supporters to refrain from participating
in the ARMM polls and other Philippine elections,” Kabalu said.
Peace talks between the government and the MILF
were stalled since last year over the rebel demands for ancestral
lands, which is the single most contentious issue before both sides
could make a deal ending more than three decades of Muslim
insurgency in the southern Philippines.
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