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Philippine Govt to Discuss Mindanao solutions
The Philippine National Security Council will meet on Monday to discuss, among others, new initiatives and solutions to the threats posed by armed groups in the southern island of Mindanao.
Domingo Siazon Jr., foreign affairs secretary and chairman of the Cabinet Cluster E, which handles national security and foreign policy issues, said this covers groups like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the New People's Army (NPA).
"Maybe we could discuss new initiatives and solutions involving the MILF and the NPA," Siazon said, according to a news release from the presidential palace Sunday.
But Siazon said it is unlikely that the council would take up the possibility of a coup attempt, saying the power grab is not expected to get popular support.
"It is not going to get support from the church and even the opposition," he said.
Neither would the meeting take up the possibility of President Joseph Estrada's resignation, as demanded by the opposition, he said.
President Estrada, allegedly taking more than 8 million US dollars in illegal gambling payoffs from November 1998 to August this year, is facing an impeachment complaint filed by opposition lawmakers last month. The impeachment proceedings are scheduled to begin Monday.
Siazon said the government is presently conducting backdoor efforts with the MILF to persuade the secessionist group to return to the negotiating table.
The 15,000-strong MILF, which has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao for more than two decades, has suspended peace talks with the government after the military seized its headquarters, Camp Abubakar, in Mindanao in early July this year.
The government is also pursuing efforts at conducting peace talks with the NPA, but at the local level, according to Siazon.
Meanwhile, Executive Secretary Ronald Zamora said the council meeting will go on with or without the attendance of opposition leaders.
Last Monday, President Estrada invited Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and former Presidents Fidel Ramos and Corazon Aquino to the meeting to discuss how to address the economic crisis gripping the country. Arroyo said earlier that she would not go to the meeting.
Zamora said the meeting would also tackle security aspects likely to be triggered by the economic crisis.
The country's financial market has been hit severely by a political crisis spawned by the allegations against President Estrada. The peso, which closed at a new record low of 51.48 to the dollar last Monday, has depreciated more than 10 percent over the past several weeks.
Global ratings agencies Standard and Poor's and Moody last month revised their rating outlook for the Philippines from stable to negative.
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