Philippines

Rebels attack troops after pact halted

Article published on the 2008-08-05 Latest update 2008-08-05 15:41 TU

Special police prepare to go to the south after the signing is halted
(Photo: Reuters)

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo has said a court decision to stop the signing of a deal between the government and separatist rebels is just a temporary setback. The Supreme Court in Manila on Monday stopped the government from signing a pact that would lead to a new step towards ending a 30-year struggle for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

Fighters from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) traded mortar fire with troops in the southern Philippines just hours after the Supreme Court's decision. 

Army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando said the rebels who attacked apparently ignored commands from the MILF leadership to leave the area as both sides negotiated a deal on territory.

The pact was to have been signed Tuesday in Malaysia, which has been brokering peace talks between the two sides.

After flying to Kuala Lumpur to sign it, Romulo refused to give up hope of an agreement on the so-called "ancestral domain" question, which would mean enlarging an autonomous region on the southern Mindanao island under MILF control.

"This temporary delay has disappointed all of us and at the Supreme Court we will present our case why we should continue with the signing of the memorandum for ancestral domain which is within the law," he said.

"We are confident eventually we should be able to return and have this memorandum on ancestral domain signed," he added.

The planned deal had sparked street protests in parts of the south amid fears that non-Muslim areas could be placed under MILF control.

The court issued a temporary restraining order preventing the signing of the agreement after a challenge from officials of a southern province.

Senator Edgardo Angara says that the order should only temporarily interrupt the peace process.

"I think it will be a couple of months because it will take some time for the court to decide," he told RFI.

Philippine government negotiators who arrived in Kuala Lumpur after the order was released insisted the deal was not unconstitutional.