Gov’t warned vs oil, gas hunt in Moro land By Michaela P. del Callar 08/01/2011

Gov’t warned vs oil, gas hunt in Moro land

By Michaela P. del Callar 08/01/2011

Separatist Muslim rebels yesterday demanded the Aquino government to suspend any planned oil and gas exploration in areas, which they said are covered by Moro ancestral domain, warning that continuing such activity would derail the ongoing peace negotiations.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in its strongest warning yet, said government-sanctioned explorations by foreign companies are deemed to upset efforts by both sides to reach a final peace settlement.
“We have been minoritized in our own homeland of Mindanao due to massive landgrabbing and resettlement programs,” MILF vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar, in a statement posted on the group’s Web site, said. “And now, the little resources that is remaining to us, some of those in the private sector and their partners in government still greedily covet.”

It was the first time the MILF has publicly opposed high-profile government economic projects, adding to the already-burdensome negotiations which have been at a stalemate for years over the rebels’ demand for an expanded Muslim autonomous territory and considerable share in revenues and benefits emanating from natural resources in their areas..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110801hed4.html