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Manila: Philippine security forces went on full alert this week ahead of elections in the Muslim south that could be a focus for violence after a fresh setback in a stop-start peace process with Islamist guerrillas.
Civilian and military officials said yesterday they feared the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) might try to disrupt elections in an existing Muslim region in the south after a deal to create a new, larger homeland was halted by the Supreme Court.
"The political temperature in the south is fast rising," said Emmanuel Pinol, a vice governor in the southern region of Mindanao. He said farmers in most Catholic communities had been arming themselves to defend their property.
"The people are hurt. They are enraged by the way the government has been handling the problem in Mindanao."
Thousands of Catholics demonstrated across Mindanao recently against the deal with the MILF that would have expanded the existing Muslim region and given its future government wide political and economic powers.
In response, the top court temporarily halted a signing ceremony for the agreement and its judges will decide in the next few months whether the deal is unconstitutional and needs to be reworked.
MILF units, frustrated at the slow pace of progress in talks, have attacked government troops in the past but the organisation said it would not fire a shot this time.
Ceasefire
"This time, the trouble will not come from us," said Eid Kabalu, an MILF spokesman. "We continue to abide by the ceasefire and remain committed to the peace process. Those Christian officials in North Cotabato are just creating hysteria and calling on their people to arm."
Muslims in the south of the largely Catholic country have been seeking some form of independence for decades in a conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people.
About 1.6 million voters were expected to elect a governor, a vice governor and 24 members of a regional legislative assembly in the six-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on August 11.
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