March 27, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, UN backed independence vote in Mindanao urged,

March 27, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, UN backed independence vote in Mindanao urged,

THE CHIEF of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has called for a United Nations-organized independence vote for Muslims in Mindanao, but President Estrada has vowed never to bow to separatists. 

MILF chair Hashim Salamat said in a taped interview aired yesterday that the vote could be "like what was done in East Timor," the former Indonesian-ruled territory which last year voted for independence in a UN- supervised referendum. 

"Any referendum should be, if we want a real referendum, a real result . . . conducted by a third party, most likely, if possible, the United Nations," Hashim said from MILF headquarters. But Mr. Estrada, speaking to graduating cadets of the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City, said he would not give in to any separatist demands. 

"We shall not allow misguided spirits to bring havoc to . . . the integrity of our Republic," he told the cadets. The President said the government wanted peace and "those who threaten the stability of our established democratic order" must not mistake this for weakness. 

Hashim's call comes just over a week after clashes in central Mindanao in which the military said it killed more than 100 rebels. The MILF said it lost seven. 

A smaller Moro rebel group, the Abu Sayyaf, last week abducted more than 70 students and teachers on Basilan island, off southwestern Mindanao. It has freed 41 of them but still holds 33, negotiators said. 

The latest fighting occurred during a break in peace talks between the government and the MILF, which became the major Mindanao separatist faction after the Moro National Liberation Front, the main Moro insurgency, signed a peace settlement in 1996, ending its 24-year rebellion. Followers of Islam number about five million out of the Philippines' more than 70 million people. They regard Mindanao, where the bulk of them live, as their ancestral homeland. 

Hashim urged the government to agree to a referendum in five Mindanao provinces where, he claimed, Muslims were in the majority--Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi. All inhabitants in those areas, including Christians, would be asked to choose between autonomy and independence, he said. 

He said rebellion would not solve the conflict. "That is why we are demanding (that) the Philippine government pave the way for democratic processes . . . this means a referendum. Ask the (Muslim) people what they want," he said. More than 120,000 people are estimated to have died in the 28-year separatist rebellion. The military estimates MILF strength at 16,000 men and that of the Abu Sayyaf at more than 1,000. Hashim said he had 80,000 men. In Iligan City, meanwhile, a breakaway MNLF faction said it has forged an ''operational cooperation'' with the MILF in Lanao del Norte, the scene of recent clashes between government and rebel troops. 

"We just can't sit down as our Muslim brothers are being killed," MNLF- Islamic Command Council spokesperson Khalid Bin Mohamad told the INQUIRER in a telephone interview yesterday. The MNLF-ICC announced its existence early this month but claimed to have broken away in 1996 in protest against the signing of the peace agreement. The group has vowed to work for a "separate Islamic state in Mindanao" through "armed guerrilla war." 

Khalid said that the MNLF-ICC had immediately sent 30 men to Kauswagan town in Lanao del Norte on March 16, the second day of the conflict, to boost MILF forces. Three days ago, it fielded 60 more men, he said. "Although we are not ready to ally with the MILF, we are also mujahideens (holy warriors)," Khalid said. 

He said the killing of about 15 Maranao civilians in the Lanao del Norte clashes has strengthened the group's resolve to fight side by side the Maguindanao-led MILF. "This conflict has fostered unity among Muslims. The barriers among the different groups have been temporarily set aside," he said. Reuters with a report from Bobby Timonera, PDI Mindanao Bureau