Rebels wants Ramos to hold second term

Rebels wants Ramos to hold second term

Cotabato City, Philippines (DPA): The Philippines' largest
remaining Moslem rebel group said yesterday it wants to see
President Fidel Ramos hold a second term after 1998 despite
constitutional restrictions to his reelection.

Ghazali Jaafar, vice chairman for political affairs of the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said the insurgent groups
support efforts to lift the single six-year term limit on the
president to ensure peace negotiations were completed.

"The MILF does not want to go back to square one when Ramos'
term expires next year," Jaafar said. "We know that when we have
another president... we will renegotiate again and we don't want
that."

The Ramos administration had been quite successful in its
peace initiatives with the country's main insurgent groups,
signing an agreement with rightist military rebels in 1995 and
with the main Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996.