President Gloria Arroyo has asked members of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to give up their arms, saying this is the best way to achieve comprehensive peace in the south.
"The use of force to gain political ends is already passe in the civilised world. There is a mounting clamour of the people and the world community for peace," said Arroyo, adding that the Front's leaders should be pacifists for the continuation of the talks between the government and the MILF negotiators.
"The MILF must shed its temporising gestures and take a bold step forward or suffer a continuing slide into irrelevance or obsolescence," added Arroyo.
The Front recently rejected her proposal that Hashim Selamat, MILF Chairman, should head the MILF talks panel, in case the peace talks are held in Malaysia.
Sources said Selamat recently wrote a letter to his nephew, Ibrahim Paglas, a former mayor, to say that the MILF will not extend any further a 20-day ceasefire it unilaterally declared on June 2.
Selamat also warned that if there was no positive response from the government after June 22, the MILF will continue its attacks on military detachments and police, including a recently declared peace sanctuary in the south, said Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF's chief information officer.
This was the real gist of Selamat's letter, but it was "wrongly read" by Paglas during the declaration of Inug-ug community in Pagulangan town, Maguindanao, as a peace sanctuary last Friday, said Iqbal.