RP defense chief vows to crush rebels' offensive
RP defense chief vows to crush rebels' offensive
MANILA (Reuter): Moro rebels plan to launch attacks against
civilian and military targets in the southern Philippines but the
armed forces are ready to crush any offensive, the Philippine
defense chief said yesterday.
Defense Secretary Renato de Villa defended a massive army
build-up in the south, saying the government could not stand by
and wait for a rebel attack to take place.
"If you are responsible for the protection of your citizenry,
would you wait for them to be subjected to attack before you do
your thing?" he told Reuters in an interview.
De Villa, a former armed forces chief, said the main threat
came from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
"They have taken advantage of our informal cease-fire...to
build up their trained armed force, to build up their armaments,
to recruit and to spread their armed elements outside of their
traditional hiding places," he said.
The MILF's military preparations have reached a dangerous
level, de Villa said, but added: "If they pursue it to the point
of war then we will crush them."
Moslem community leaders say the armed forces' build-up is
increasing the risk of renewed fighting. The military strength on
the main southern island of Mindanao and neighboring islands is
now 60,000 to 70,000 men -- more than half the armed forces'
total strength.
MILF leaders have warned that a new war is inevitable unless
peace talks between the government and another rebel group, the
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), produce agreement on an
autonomous region covering 13 provinces.
The government says that constitutionally the proposal must be
put to a plebiscite. Christians are in a clear majority in the
area and there is no chance the autonomy plan will be accepted.
A third round of talks ended last month with agreement on a
broad range of issues linked to an autonomy plan. There was no
agreement, however, on the issue of whether to hold a plebiscite.
"The government has to preserve the integrity of the state.
The government has to protect its peaceful citizenry. The
government has to protect itself. And we will never allow any
part of the Philippine territory to be removed from it either by
negotiation or by force," de Villa said.
MILF leaders say Moslems have become a minority in their
ancestral lands because of Christian migration and discriminatory
government policies.
They say they have no choice but to fight for their
community's survival.
De Villa said everybody would lose if hostilities resumed. The
only hope was a negotiated settlement which would allow both
Christians and Moslems to take part in the country's current
economic revival.
"Any group that would launch any attack against the armed
forces would have no chance of achieving victory," he said.
"They would only achieve destruction, death, violence and the
loss of the opportunity for all communities to move forward with
the rest of the country."
Moslems say 200,000 people died at the height of the last
major round of fighting in the south in the 1970s while the
government puts the death toll at 50,000.