Bomb deals deadly blow to Philippine peace process

Bomb deals deadly blow to Philippine peace process

Agencies, Manila

If the chance for peace in the Philippines needed one more nail
in the coffin, it just got 13.

In many ways, the bomb that tore through Koronadal on Saturday
was just another bloody episode in three decades of Moro
separatist violence on the southern island of Mindanao.

But with at least 83 people dead in attacks since the start of
March, the blast in the town's crowded marketplace may have
killed a peace process that was already gravely wounded.

The government, with its military energies divided against
half a dozen Muslim and communist guerrilla groups, faces the
choice of clamping down to demonstrate its control or holding out
for an elusive long-term settlement.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had drawn the line even
before the bomb that killed 13 people in Koronadal by scrapping
talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and offering
nearly US$1 million for the capture of the group's leaders.

Authorities identified the MILF as the chief suspect behind
the bombing that killed 13 people and wounded dozens of others in
the city of Koronadal on Saturday.

In a visit to Koronadal, Interior Secretary Jose Lina said
"the manner that it was conducted has the same pattern as ... the
bombings in Davao City," -- another southern city hit by two
deadly bomb blasts in March and April.

Lina said the pattern "really points to the MILF."

The MILF, the largest Muslim rebel group in the mainly Roman
Catholic nation, denied involvement in Saturday's blast but is
blamed for two recent bombings in Davao and other deadly attacks.

A senior government official familiar with Muslim affairs said
it was right to suspend the peace process in the current climate
but that true progress could only come with the alleviation of
poverty and other disparities in the south.

"Many Muslims who were moderate before are becoming radical,"
the official told Reuters on Sunday.

"We are giving too much importance to those who are looking
for violence. There is a need to refocus our attention on the
law-abiding Muslim population in Mindanao and to make them feel
that they belong to this republic."

Mindanao -- a region rich in corn, rice and coconuts -- is
also one of the nation's poorest in terms of development projects
and opportunities for the eight million Muslims who live there.

The mayor of Koronadal said the Abu Sayyaf, a kidnap gang
blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization with links
to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, claimed responsibility for
the attack and warned of more to come.

Regardless of who planted the bomb, the cycle of unrest does
nothing to draw investors or tourists to the Philippines.

The prospects for peace were growing ever dimmer last weak
when the government's top negotiator quit and Arroyo said there
was no rush to replace him.

Jesus Dureza, also the presidential assistant for Mindanao and
chairman of the Mindanao Economic Development Council, said he
was leaving the peace process to focus on development efforts on
the war-torn island.