None of the victims are dead anymore, y'see...
The Philippines plans to drop murder charges against 185 members of the country's largest Muslim separatist group, removing a major barrier to resuming peace talks, officials said Thursday. The justice secretary has ordered prosecutors to drop charges against the guerrillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, who are accused of participating in two bomb attacks last year which killed 38 people in the southern Philippines.
| "I mean, we got lotsa people in the Philippines. What's 38 deaders?" |
The MILF, which has waged a decades-old insurrection for Muslim self-rule in the south, has demanded that the charges be dropped as a condition for resuming peace talks. Talks have been held on and off since 1997. The MILF's current chief Al Haj Mural, vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar and rebel spokesman Eid ("Lipless Eddie") Kabalu — as well as the group's late leader Salamat Hashim — are among those who were charged and will now be cleared. Kabalu called the move "a positive development" and said peace talks could resume once the charges had been dropped. "With this, if it's proven to be true, we see no more hindrances to the resumption of formal peace talks," he said.
| "Hurrah! Fire up the peace processor!" |
Teresita Deles, the president's adviser on the peace process, said Thursday the cases against the 185 guerrillas were weak and the government thought they could be withdrawn to foster peace talks. However, charges against five other guerrillas would not be withdrawn because of strong evidence against them, said Deles, adding the government wouldn't drop all criminal cases just for the sake of the talks. "We will not violate the laws and we will not shortcut justice," Deles told The Associated Press.
| "Unless somebody asks us to, of course..." |
The order to rescind the charges is expected to take effect in a few days, Deles said. Kabalu said the government has also mostly met the rebels' demand to withdraw troops from a MILF stronghold that the military captured in a major offensive last year. The MILF has denied involvement in last year's bombings, one of which killed 22 people, including an American missionary, outside the international airport in southern city of Davao in March. The other killed 16 people near the city's wharf the following month. There are an estimated 11,500 MILF guerrillas with about 8,700 firearms, the military said. The MILF has been accused of having links with the Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah but the rebels deny that. The group says it has renounced terrorism and pledged to help the government hunt foreign extremists in the country's volatile south. |