Arroyo orders AFP to protect Mindanao residents amid clashes!!

SOURCE: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080701-145825/Arroyo-orders-AFP-to-protect-Mindanao-residents-amid-clashes
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:12:00 07/01/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Even as she stressed the need to preserve peace in Mindanao, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the military to take steps to protect the people from insurgent groups amid reports of fighting in the central part of the region that has forced villagers to flee their homes.

Speaking at the 41st founding anniversary of Davao del Sur, Arroyo said, "We repeat the primacy of the peace process but we direct the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] to be vigilant and take appropriate actions to protect the citizens from harm by elements who disrupt the peace."

Reports said that clashes between government troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerillas erupted in Aleosan town, North Cotabato Tuesday morning.

Despite a ceasefire agreement, the AFP had claimed that the MILF had been provoking government troops by making their presence felt in Saranggani, Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, and North Cotabato.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza has called on the joint ceasefire committee of the government and the MILF to look into the incidents.

"If they are indeed MILF elements, then the MILF leadership must rein them in to preserve the peace gains," he said in a statement.

Peace talks between the government and the rebel group hit a snag in December over the issue of territory when the government insisted that the future of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) would be determined by a plebiscite, which the MILF rejected.

On June 18 in Davao City, Arroyo announced that the Cabinet cluster of the National Security Council has approved a revised government draft on the ancestral domain agreement to be presented to the MILF in a bid to revive the stalled peace talks with the Muslim rebel group.