MILF still open for Kato's return --Iqbal

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 8): MILF still open for Kato's return --Iqbal

The chief of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels, Mohaqher Iqbal, has said his group is open to accept Ameril Omra Kato, chair of the renegade Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Front (BIFF).

Iqbal, speaking during the inauguration of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) main office in Cotabato City, said the MILF has been trying to establish a bridge that would pave the way for the return of Kato to the main guerrilla forces.

"We have been trying to win him back because we are inclusive, but our efforts failed," Iqbal told Secretary Teresita Deles and Local Governments Secretary Manuel A. Roxas who were special guests of the program.

Also in attendance were Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Toto Mangudadatu.

"We did our best but still we failed," Iqbal said, adding that the MILF still remained open to accept Kato back.

Chief government negotiator Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer had been urging Kato to help bring about peace in Mindanao by joining the peace process instead of using arms to fight the government and displaced thousands of Muslim civilians whom they vowed to protect.

Kato, about 75 years old, broke away from the MILF in 2008 following the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, formed the BIFF and continued the struggle for Mindanao independence.

Iqbal has repeatedly called on sectors opposed to the establishment of a new Bangsamoro political entity to support the efforts to resolve the decades-old problem in southern Philippines.

"There's no other better option but to support the GPH-MILF peace process because it is inclusive," Iqbal added.

Roxas assured BTC members of Malacanang's all-out support for the passage of the bill that will eventually create the new Bangsamoro political government.

A proposed bill on Bangsamoro is being crafted by the BTC which is composed of seven representative from the government and eight from the MILF.

Deles added that police action against the BIFF will continue even if the peace panels are almost striking a peace deal that would formalize the 14 years peace process.

She said the ceasefire is between the GPH and MILF and not with the BIFF, thus police punitive action will continue.

At least 50 BIFF members were killed when the Army's 6th Infantry Division launched surgical operations against the BIFF forces who resisted when police-led state forces were serving arrest warrants for the rebels facing various charges.

The week-long fighting also displaced about 10,000 civilians in Maguindanao and North Cotabato, many of whom have refused to return home.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=614075