RP Christians protest against Moro peace plan

RP Christians protest against Moro peace plan

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP): Thousands of Christians staged a
show of force here yesterday, laying siege to visiting President
Fidel Ramos with demands to exclude them from a planned autonomy
deal with Moro rebels.

Just minutes after Ramos' plane arrived at an airbase near
this southern city, protesters tore down a section of perimeter
fencing and rushed inside to demonstrate against his provisional
peace accord with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF.)

Riot police and air force troops formed a cordon to hold back
around 10, 000 demonstrators who gathered outside the reception
hall at Edwin Andrews Air Force Base, as Ramos met with local
officials, witnesses said.

The protesters chanted "No, No, No," We Want Ramos" and
"Misuari Stinks," a reference to MNLF leader Nur Misuari.

The protesters held up banners which read: "Mr. President,
Please do not Betray Zamboanga" and "We Will be Prepared to Die
Rather than Give Zamboanga to Misuari."

After the two-hour meeting with local leaders, Ramos tried to
ease the tension by breaking through his own security cordon to
address the protesters.

However the demonstrators continued to shout anti-MNLF slogans
and shake angry fists, prompting security men to keep Ramos back.
In the end, the president was forced to turn back from the crowd
without speaking to them.

The meeting was the first stop of a two-day tour of the
southern Philippines by Ramos to canvass support for an MNLF-led
council to be appointed by the president which would oversee
development projects over 14 southern provinces for the next
three years.

The council would pave the way for the creation within three
years of an autonomous Moslem region in the south, scene of a
separatist rebellion by the MNLF which claimed at least 50,000
lives in the early 1970s.

Christian national legislators from the region have charged
that the council was against the constitution, and tantamount to
handing over nearly a quarter of the Philippines to the MNLF.

During his meeting with the local officials in Zamboanga,
Ramos tried to assure them that the council would not diminish
their authority and that they could still opt out of joining the
proposed Moslem autonomous area.

He also tried to link the council with the success of a
planned free port to be set up in Zamboanga, saying that
investors from Islamic nations in Southeast Asia and the Middle
East would be attracted to the zone.

Ramos also assured that he would return to Zamboanga soon to
hold further dialog on the subject.

However his words had little effect on the congresswoman
representing Zamboanga, Maria Clara Lobregat, a leader of the
anti-MNLF campaign, who told Ramos during the dialog to "listen
to the people outside."

Military and local police forces had gone on full alert
starting Monday in anticipation of violent protests during the
tour.

The council would cover an area with around 10 million people,
including about four million Moslems and other minorities. Most
are Christian however.

Ramos later boarded a helicopter for the majority Christian
town of Ipil, which was pillaged by an MNLF splinter group in
April 1995, killing more than 50 people. He was to inspect
rehabilitation work on the town.