ZAMBOANGA CITY—The members of the International Women’s Peace and Solidarity Mission on Sunday called for the reduction of government forces in Basilan.

Lantawan Mayor Tahira Ismael, who is also the president of the provincial mayors’ league, in a meeting with the delegates of the peace mission Saturday called for greater role to be given to the local governments in the province in the pursuit of the suspects of the July 10 Basilan ambush, where 14 Marines were killed, 10 of whom were beheaded.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) admitted the participation of its fighters in the ambush, but denied involvement in the mutilation of the victims.

“This is Basilan, and we know who these people are,” Ismael told the delegates as she proposed that local governments be allowed to reactivate their barangay intelligence systems to help in the hunt for the suspected beheaders.

Gov. Jum Akbar took the same position, saying that more troops in the area “might only complicate the situation.”

Lawyer Maryann Arnado of the Bantay Cease-fire supported the call, saying, “the civilian government must assert its supremacy in resolving the crisis, or else somebody will have to do it,” as she called on both the government and the MILF to use the mechanisms in the cease-fire agreement in solving the crisis.

Arnado also appealed to the media to be sensitive in reporting and avoid “drumbeating the war when there was none.”

She observed that some journalists seemed to be leading the armed groups into war by writing reports that are “misleading the public.”

Thousands of troops were deployed to Basilan, augmenting the 3rd Marine Brigade that is permanently stationed in the said province.

The troops, combined Marine and Army forces, including a contingent from the Presidential Security Group (PSG), were placed under the operational control of Task Force Thunder, which was created to hunt down the ambushers and bandits.

An additional battalion of Marines that just completed retraining arrived last week in Basilan.

The Armed Forces, meawhile, activated the Army’s 105th Infantry Brigade for deployment to Basilan.

Mary Ellen Oconnor of New Zealand, who is one of the foreign delegates from six countries in the Asia-Pacific, expressed concern for the welfare of civilians when full-blown hostilities erupt.

Thousands of civilians have fled their homes for fear of being caught in the crossfire. Some of them are housed at the evacuation centers, while the rest sought refuge with their relatives in safe areas.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The members of the International Women’s Peace and Solidarity Mission on Sunday called for the reduction of government forces in Basilan.

THE Senate was asked to fasttrack the passage of a bill seeking to reform the country’s “messy and costly” land titling and administration system that, Sen. Edgardo Angara warned, has grievously harmed the national economy and left 60 percent of all real-estate properties without legal titles.

THE Supreme Court (SC) has issued a ruling allowing the two warring camps—the Nieto group and Africa group—to amicably settle their differences over the control of the Philippine Overseas Telecommunications Corp. (POTC), Philippines Communications Satellite Corp. (Philcomsat), and Philcomsat Holdings Corp. (PHC).

CHAIRMAN Bayani Fernando of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Sunday promised a flood-free metropolis next year.

THE proposal to amend the Electric Power Industry Reform Agenda (Epira) will only open the electric power industry to greater abuses of utility monopolies and further victimize consumers instead of bringing down the cost of electricity, a militant legislator said.

FATHER Giancarlo Bossi, 57, the tall Italian priest kidnapped and eventually released by suspected Moro bandits on July 19, left for Italy on Sunday morning, accompanied by his superior, Fr. Gian Battista Zanchi, of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (Pime).