THE military on Monday warned the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that it may be forced to launch, as a “last resort,” an all-out war against the separatist group unless it surrenders its members who beheaded 10 Marines in Basilan last week.

However, Malacañang says cease-fire mechanism between the MILF and the government should be given a chance to work, in the investigation into the Basilan incident.

“We are with the MILF in its call for restraint, but its leaders have admitted that the ambush was perpetrated by their people. So they must now bring out the offenders, I mean those who beheaded the Marines, otherwise, we will consider [more severe] options” Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Armed Forces chief of staff, said.

Esperon, who accompanied President Arroyo at the Marine Corps Headquarters at Fort Bonifacio, Makati City, said one of the options is to launch an all-out war against the separatist group.

Just as Esperon was making the warning, Mohaguer Iqbal, chief negotiator of the MILF, stood firm on his Group’s previously issued statement that MILF rebels have nothing to do with the beheading, and blamed it to some other groups or individuals who have “motives” to do the gory act.

“They [MILF fighters] did not do it, and they will not do it,” Iqbal said. “It was done by those who have motives,” he told defense reporters in a cellular telephone interview. Iqbal, however, could not say who are the individuals behind the beheading or their group.

Military investigators suspect that the Marines happened to pass an area where MILF rebels were giving sanctuary to Abu Sayyaf bandits who escaped from Sulu.

Esperon said a full-blown war against the MILF is “in the horizon,” but as much as possible, the military leadership does not want to consider it.

Iqbal said the MILF is prepared for war. “If they [military forces] would come, we can do nothing, but we are determined to defend our camp.”

He said the demand of the government to yield their fighters who were responsible in beheading the soldiers following an ambush-encounter in Basilan would not be granted.

“It was a legitimate encounter. We cannot surrender our men, that is what the cease-fire agreement [with the government] calls,” Iqbal said.

Still, he said the MILF would cooperate with the government in any investigation, but wants that an international human-rights organization conduct the probe.

Esperon said that a joint investigating team from the military and the MILF is still in Basilan, to determine what transpired during the encounter and identify those who are responsible for the soldiers’ beheading.

An additional Marine battalion has been sent to the province awaiting for orders to move from the government.

Iqbal again refuted the military’s claim that the Marines engaged an MILF group that included Abu Sayyaf bandits.

He also said that the barangay where the firefight took place teems with relatives of Abu Sayyaf and MILF members, hinting that these people could have been behind the beheadings.

THE military on Monday warned the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that it may be forced to launch, as a “last resort,” an all-out war against the separatist group unless it surrenders its members who beheaded 10 Marines in Basilan last week.

CHIEF Justice Reynato Puno on Monday declared that human rights under the Arroyo administration “is now under assault” and that the political branches of government have become weak in protecting the people, particularly media men and political activists, against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

AN official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said foreign governments might retaliate on Philippine consular offices abroad as the residents of Dasmariñas Village in Makati continue to refuse to allow foreign embassies inside the area to perform consular services to Filipino visa applicants.

DESPITE appeals from their colleagues to stop the mudslinging brought about by the hotly contested Speakership fight, it seems that the word war among the contenders and their allies would continue until the 14th Congress opens on July 23.

ISABELA CITY, Basilan—Kidnapped Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi, 57, is reportedly being hidden by his abductors in a cave in the hinterlands of Zamboanga Sibugay province, a text message received on Monday morning by a ranking police official said.