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.