MILF mums on proposed ties with NDF

August 18, 2008
  
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is tight-lipped on the offer of Jose Maria Sison for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) to join forces and confront the Philippine government as a “common enemy”.

In an interview with media yesterday, Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the MILF committee on information and the Front’s chief peace negotiator, said he has no authority to comment on the matter.
 
“This is an issue that I cannot comment, he said.
 
In the past, the MILF was reported to have entered into a tactical cooperation with the NDFP on the ground, which gave the two liberation organizations at least two advantages:
 
1. Allows combatants of each party to pass by areas controlled by the other;

2. Prevents conflicts where the two parties have common presence such as in various areas in Davao, Zamboanga, and South Cotabato.
 
On Friday, Sison urged the MILF to join forces with the CPP’s National Democratic Front of the Philippines, saying they have a common enemy in the Arroyo government.

 

Sison also said the MILF should start fighting the government, which he said used the peace process as its latest vehicle to push for Charter change.