Press Release
August 19, 2008

SEN. REVILLA'S STATEMENT ON MILF'S LATEST ATTACKS
"SUSPEND TALKS WITH MILF"

With the continuous terrorist attacks perpetuated by MILF Commanders Bravo and Umbra Kato on innocent civilians, the government should suspend talks with the MILF indefinitely until the MILF can come to the negotiating table with clean hands. It will be a complete waste of time and resources, and foster only false hopes, if we pursue the on-going peace efforts with the MILF being blatantly insincere and attended with gross bad faith.

There is no way we can talk peace on the one hand, while the MILF continues its inhumane destruction of lives and property, which has no place in a civilized society.

If the MILF is truly sincere in their endeavors for peace, the only acceptable condition for the peace process to progress is for them to hand-over the perpetrators to the duly constituted authorities to be dealt with, with the firm hand of the law. The MILF leadership should stop with its tactic of disowning their people and disavowing their actuations.

If the MILF is truly what they represent themselves to be, then they should be able to exercise control over their membership. If they do not, then the entire peace talks would be a farce. There would then be no assurance that the agreements to be made would be respected.

The impediment on the BJE-MOA is a blessing in disguise. I could not imagine the implications of the Filipino people empowering a group with authority over a significant portion of our territory, who has no control over their membership and who possibly condones these barbaric actions.

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