Manila to fund rebel integration

Manila to fund rebel integration

MANILA (AFP): The Philippines is to put up 1.25 billion pesos (US$39 million) next year to complete the integration of former Moslem rebels into the armed forces, a lawmaker said here yesterday.

The allocation is part of an additional 12.9 billion-peso budget requested by the department of national defense for 1998, congressman Antonio Cuenco, who also chairs the Commission on Appointments' defense committee, said in a statement.

The fund would be used to cover the training and construction of barracks for some 4,750 former rebels of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Cuenco said.

A peace treaty between the MNLF and the government signed last year provided for the integration of up to 7,000 former guerrillas into the Philippine military and police forces.