Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong, who led the House team constituted by Speaker Jose de Venecia, on Friday described the meeting with MILF Chair Murad Ebrahim and other rebel leaders as "intimate and cordial."

"We were there not as negotiators but facilitators to help foster better understanding with the MILF leadership on the issues surrounding the peace process," Datumanong said.

Most of the legislators who attended the meeting could be considered veterans of the peace process with Moro rebels with some of them playing key roles in the signing of the 1996 peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MILF).

The MILF is a breakaway faction of the MNLF and was not involved in later negotiations that led to the signing

of the 1996 peace treaty.

"We have done this before with the MNLF and we want this success duplicated by the government in its peace deal with the MILF," Datumanong said.

Desire

Datumanong said that during the meeting, the MILF leaders told them that the rebel group also wanted an end to the long-running Moro rebellion.

"Just like the government, the MILF wants the Mindanao conflict resolved soonest," Datumanong quoted Ebrahim as saying.

The government and the MILF have been talking for the past five years in a bid to end the rebellion.

The formal peace talks have been suspended for quite sometime now but low-key negotiations have been continuing, with Malaysia acting as third-country mediator.

The progress of the peace talks was hampered by several issues, including allegations the MILF has ties with the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

The MILF repeatedly denied the allegations and even invited the government and even foreign governments to come and visit its camps.

However, a police intelligence officer told the Inquirer in Kidapawan City that during an MILF assembly in Maguindanao on Aug. 27, Ebrahim had ordered field commanders to "confine JI members in a secluded island in Lanao del Sur."

Hidden asset

The police intelligence officer, who requested anonymity, said this was an obvious move to prevent other parties from seeing the JI operatives, most of them Indonesians, if a visit to an MILF camp had been agreed upon.

"This just confirmed reports that they have links with the terrorists," he said.

MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu said the claim was an exaggeration of what actually took place during the assembly.

"Oh my God . . . that is not true. What the chairman told us was to always keep the guard (sic) against the JI and not to confine them or protect them or anything like that," Kabalu said.

He said the MILF has welcomed the fresh claim because "we can have ample time to discuss this with the government."

The peace negotiation was expected to resume after Oct. 10 when the Malaysian-led ceasefire monitoring team had already been deployed.

Peace advocates in Mindanao said they were already impatient with the long delay and urged both the government and the rebel group to speed up the resumption of the negotiations.

Mary Ann Arnado of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus said they are anxious and impatient because of fear that with the resurging issues against the MILF, the formal negotiations would again be jeopardized.

"As Mindanaoans and peace advocates, we strongly urge the Philippine government, the MILF, and the government of Malaysia to resume the peace talks as soon as possible," Arnado said.