Palace: No promise to free 25 MILF ‘political detainees’

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) should not expect the automatic release of 25 of its members who are “political detainees" in time for the resumption of peace talks in February. Malacañang said Saturday that while the government is reviewing the cases of the 25, there is no commitment that the detainees will be released. “From what I understand, ang demand nila is the release at wala tayong commitment doon. Titingnan natin ang nasa listahan and I suppose iisa-isahin ang pangalan at tingnan kung ano ang status," deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said on government-run dzRB radio. (From what I understand, their demand is the release [of the detainees], but we have made no commitment to do that. We will look at the names on the list and I suppose we will review the status of the cases individually.) She added the Palace is leaving it to the government peace panel under Marvic Leonen, which has already received the list of names, to go about the review of the cases of the 25 political detainees. On Friday, Leonen said the government and the MILF will resume formal peace talks on Feb. 9 and 10, after concluding informal peace talks in Kuala Lumpur. (See: Govt, MILF to resume formal talks Feb 9-10) Leonen said issues on the International Monitoring Team and Ad Hoc Joint Action Group will likely top the agenda of the talks. He also said the government affirmed the security guarantees previously agreed on and will issue identity cards to MILF members participating in the talks. Leonen added the government will "review individually" the cases of 25 such members allegedly in government custody. "It is optimistic that talks will move forward constructively," he said but did not elaborate. MILF peace panel secretariat member Jun Mantawil earlier said now is the best time to release the Moro political prisoners, as the peace talks are at an “impasse." (See: MILF wants govt to also release Moro pol detainees) “Releasing these detainees can help jumpstart the ailing GRP [Government of the Republic of the Philippines]-MILF peace talks ... This is the best time to make the release while there is impasse in talks," Mantawil earlier said. The MILF referred to the cases of Edward Guerra, a “senior member of the Central Committee of the MILF," and Commander Aguilar Saligan, who were linked to the siege of Maasim, Sarangani on August 16, 2008. The MILF said Guerra is detained at Fort Bonifacio, isolated in a small cell with no ventilation except for a very small window. Guerra was arrested at the Davao International Airport last September 22 while en-route to Geneva, Switzerland to a United Nations conference on human rights. Leonen had defended Guerra’s arrest, saying that the MILF official was served a valid court warrant and that his name was never submitted as a direct negotiator of the rebel group.—With Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV