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.