Philippines ready for possible war against MILF fighters: military

The Philippine military said on Thursday that the Armed Forces would be prepared to go to war against the separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) if peace negotiations with them failed.

The 120,000-strong government troops can afford a war with the MILF who threatened to return to the battle field after the peace process hit an impasse in September, Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon said in a chance interview at Camp Aguinaldo, the military headquarters in the capital.

"We can if it involves sovereignty. They are capable but we are ready, very ready," said Esperon when asked if the military can afford a war with the MILF who has over 10,000 fighters in the South.

But Esperon was quick to add that the military does not want war if it can be averted. "Why go to war if we can talk peace and save people from getting displaced, save casualties and save resources," he said.

The peace talks hit the snag while negotiators were discussing the substantive issues on ancestral domain of the proposed autonomous region for the MILF.

Government negotiators have refused MILF proposals to include certain areas under the expanded Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao.

There have been reports of skirmishes between MILF fighters and government forces in Central Mindanao, a stronghold of MILF, for the past weeks. A number of rebels have been reported killed in the fightings.

Esperon clarified that the skirmishes do not include military personnel. "We are preserving the ceasefire. Those involved in the fightings are civilians," he said.

The last time the military and the MILF went to war was in 2003 when government forces moved to capture Buliok complex, an MILF camp in Central Mindanao.

Source: Xinhua