MANILA, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) welcomed Wednesday President Arroyo's support for postponing elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), saying it would boost the peace process with government.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said Wednesday the fronts bid for the postponement of elections, originally scheduled Aug. 11, stemmed from its push for added territories in the ARMM.
"Para ito sa Bangsamoro Juridical Entity. May idadagdag, dagdagan lang ng ilang teritoryo, in the hundreds (of villages or towns) (This is for the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity. We wanted to add several territories to ARMM, in the hundreds of villages or towns)," Kabalu said in an interview on dzXL radio.
On Tuesday, Arroyo voiced support for postponing elections for ARMM, with her allies in Congress saying they were ready to rush a law to effect the postponement.
But Sen. Richard Gordon said late Tuesday that time is not on the side of such efforts to postpone the ARMM elections.
Kabalu said that if the ARMM elections takes place as scheduled, elected officials would get a three-year term ending August 2011.
But Kabalu said the MILF expects peace talks with government to last in "one to two years," before the August 2011 date.
"Sa atin nakikita ng dalawang panel we'll be able to resolve the issue maybe one to two years, but not beyond three years kung saan maapektuhan ang mandate ng ARMM officials kung itutuloy natin ang election (Both the government and MILF panels expect we will be able to resolve the issue in one to two years, but not in three years. Once we resolve it and add the territories to the autonomous region, the mandate of ARMM officials will be affected)," he said. - GMANews.TV