ZAMBOANGA CITY—The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Committees on Cease-fire and Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) have jointly dismissed the circulating rumors that the peace process has collapsed owing to the perceived impasse on the peace talks.

The government CCCH chairman, Brig. Gen. Reynaldo Sealana, and the MILF-CCCH chairman, Von Al Haq, have assured that the negotiations are still ongoing and expressed confidence that the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Mindanao will be achieved soon.

The government and the MILF CCCHs vowed to further strengthen collaboration with each other and all the affected sectors, particularly local governments, in order to significantly complement the forging of a comprehensive solution to the Bangsamoro problem.

Maj. Gen. Datuk Mat Yasin of Malaysia, head of the International Monitoring Team, cited the continuing high level of commitment, goodwill, spirit of harmony and friendship of the joint CCCH in pursuing the cease-fire and the peace process.

Yasin appealed to all concerned sectors and individuals to make peace and prosperity not only a matter of discussion but a normal way of life, particularly in Mindanao, in order to ensure and sustain national and regional stability.

The Army commander, Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano, gave credence to the crucial roles of the government and MILF CCCHs and the IMT in sustaining peace, which is vital to the success of the peace negotiations.

Yano gave assurance that the Armed Forces is fully committed to the national agenda of upholding the primacy of the peace process and nurturing the seeds of peace in resolving the decades-old conflict in Mindanao.

Yano emphasized that peace is synonymous with development and should be the concern of everybody.

The government and the MILF CCCHs promised to sustain prompt coordination and actions to prevent provocative situations and unnecessary confrontations, especially between their forces, which can adversely affect the peace process.

Both panels issued a joint statement announcing that they agreed to conduct further dialogues and peace-advocacy initiatives in promoting confidence-building and goodwill for the peace process between and among the stakeholders, including the international community.

Both committees viewed with concern recent incidents which resulted in the arrest, death and destruction of properties of their members and civilians.

They agreed to take immediate action on the incidents by conducting joint fact-finding inquiries in order to come up with mutually acceptable courses of action through, among others, consultations and coordination with concerned authorities.

Both panels also agreed to maximize coordination and information drives on the conduct of the RP-US Balikatan 2008 Exercises in line with the guidelines and principles of the peace process.

The two committees will elevate and refer to the peace panels the proposal to create Local Monitoring Teams (LMTs) for the provinces of Palawan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, which are now included in the expanded area of responsibility of the IMT.

The panels also agreed to hold a special meeting with the IMT and government-MILF Ad Joc Action Group (Ahjag), Bangsamoro Development Agency and its Technical Working Group to draft the administrative and operational guidelines for the establishment of Areas of Temporary Stay (ATS) which shall be submitted to the government-MILF peace negotiating panels for its approval.

They will meet again in March this year to discuss their achievement in overseeing the cease-fire implementation as the peace process is on.

Bishop: Fruitless to ask Church to unseat President Arroyo

DESPITE people’s growing disappointment over the administration, it would be fruitless to ask the Roman Catholic Church to “unseat” the President because the bishops are not the “sovereign Filipino people,” said the former head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Malacañang on Monday expressed confidence that the administration will weather the exposé of Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. on alleged irregularities in the botched national broadband network (NBN) deal with a Chinese company, saying it has survived “more serious” challenges in the past.

TAGUM CITY—A counterinsurgency summit here has proposed economic measures heavily accented with anticorruption and law-enforcement moves, including a proposal compelling local governments to submit development plans before they can receive their internal-revenue allotments (IRA).

THE Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) chief, Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga, clarified on Monday that the soldiers who participated in a predawn raid against a suspected Abu Sayyaf lair in Maimbung, Sulu, early last week were not suspended pending results of the investigation into the incident that resulted in the death of seven civilians caught in the crossfire.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Committees on Cease-fire and Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) have jointly dismissed the circulating rumors that the peace process has collapsed owing to the perceived impasse on the peace talks.

FOLLOWING the complaints raised by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the garbage-collection contractors, Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo was suspended by the Rizal Provincial Government for 60 days.