BY GERARD NAVAL

MALAYSIAN facilitators of peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have deferred informal talks scheduled tomorrow and Friday.

But Foreign Secretary Rafael Seguis said he was trying to convince the facilitators to hold the talks as scheduled.

The deferment has nothing to do with last week’s bloody clash between government forces and Abu Sayyaf bandits in Basilan. The facilitators needed time to study proposals submitted by both parties, said Seguis, head of the government panel in peace negotiations with the MILF.

Some MILF units were found to have joined the fighting in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan on Wednesday last week when government forces raided an Abu Sayyaf camp. The clash, which lasted some eight hours, left 23 troops and at least 30 bandits dead. The MILF has said some of the fatalities were MILF members.

The clash is not enough reason to suspend the peace process, Seguis said.

He said authorities are determining "what really happened" in the August 12 clash.

He described it as an isolated incident which he said "should not be the sole basis for the suspension of the process."

The peace talks, brokered by Malaysia, were suspended in September last year after rogue MILF commanders attacked civilian communities in parts of Central Mindanao.

The MILF leadership has said it has not sanctioned the attacks but refused to surrender the three rogue commanders to the government.

The government launched military operations against the commanders in August last year and suspended these last month – without getting any of the three rogue commanders -- in preparation for the resumption of talks.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who also chairs the Anti-Terrorism Council, said government will push through with the peace negotiations with the MILF while the defense department and the Armed Forces are conducting "more intensive inquiry" into the role of the MILF in the clash between soldiers and the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan.

"At this particular moment what we must uphold is the supremacy of the peace process. In case of doubt, we are going to follow the path where we should pursue the peace process. If there are conclusive evidence otherwise, then that is something to consider if this is being done by the (MILF)," Ermita said.

Ermita, who served as defense secretary and deputy AFP chief, said it is hard to determine if there were lapses on the part of the military because only the ground commander could assess the situation and make decisions.

"It’s very difficult...Now there are many, many factors in such a situation: good intelligence, terrain...All I can say is that we wish we can improve our gathering of information so that we can avoid such incident," he said

Issues about an alleged ambush by the MILF of reinforcement troops have been raised.

Senators Rodolfo Biazon and Panfilo Lacson questioned why the military had to inform the MILF of operations against the Abu Sayyaf.

Biazon on Monday called on the government to first review its policy in dealing with the secessionist group before resuming peace negotiations.

Sen. Francis Escudero said the government should not resume peace talks if the MILF does not disown the rogue elements who aided the Abu Sayyaf in the Basilan clash.

And whether the MILF does so or not, the government should enforce the law and run after those who killed the troops, he said.

Escudero, chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said the Basilan incident shows the MILF leadership might not have full control of its forces or is merely exercising nominal leadership in areas not under its control.

"What we may have here are armed groups who have allied themselves with the MILF because of the prospect of being covered by a peace agreement that will grant them territory and immunity for their crimes," he said.

Escudero noted that rogue MILF units involved in the attacks last year on civilian communities in Central Mindanao remain at large and continue to defy the law.

He said the government should demand an accounting of MILF units and their current location so that it can move against armed bands without any constraint.

"We must distinguish between those who sincerely want peace and the pretenders in their midst. We must be as relentless in pursing peace as in hunting down those responsible for the barbaric acts on our fallen heroes," he said.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said combat operations against the Abu Sayyaf would continue despite the Muslims’ holy month of Ramadan which starts Friday.

He said suspension of military operations (SOMO) is applicable only to forces which the government is holding peace talks with, and not with lawless elements like the Abu Sayyaf.