COTABATO CITY—Peace advocates here are holding a peaceful mass action to press the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to return to the peace negotiating table as communities “are already very apprehensive” with talks of a looming war.

The call of the peace advocates came just as government forces and MILF guerrillas were reported to have engaged in a gun battle in Maitum, Sarangani, on Wednesday morning.

MILF guerrillas reportedly ambushed an Army convoy in barangay Tikulab, Maitum, killing a soldier. The guerrillas are reportedly still holding an undetermined number of hostages.

However, the military said that it was the MILF that sustained a fatality.

Maj. Armand Rico, spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), said both groups were still engaged in sporadic firefights as of Wednesday afternoon, with the troops calling in air support.

Rico said the gun battle broke out after MILF fighters attacked troops from the 27th Infantry Battalion (IB), who are on patrol at barangay Ticulab, Maitum.

Rico said the “routine” operation was taken following the series of attacks by the MILF against communications facilities and other vital installations in the town and its adjoining areas.

He also said the Moro fighters had been massing near an Army detachment in Maitum.

“We are still verifying if the attackers were indeed regular MILF members or a renegade faction of the MILF,” Rico said.

He said the Eastmincom will immediately file a protest with the joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities for violation of the cease-fire agreement if it is determined that regular MILF members were behind the ambush.

A check with the Bantay Cease-fire confirmed the incident, although the grassroots peace monitor is “still gathering more information.”

Rexall Kaalim, Bantay Cease-fire coordinator, said: “That is true [ambush and hostage taking]. Informants said that there is still fighting in the area. It started at about 6 in the morning at Tikulab and has now spread to barangay Mindupok.”

“We are counterchecking and verifying pieces of information reported to us by our volunteers on the field. Soon we will have a clear picture of what really has happened,” Kaalim said.

However, another report reaching Bantay Cease-fire said that Civilian Volunteer Organization members were allegedly sent to verify reports of an impending attack on a church in the area. The volunteers were reportedly fired upon by unidentified men, prompting the dispatch of soldiers to the area.

Reports also said that troops on- board five armored personnel carriers went into the area “without coordinating” with MILF forces.

As this developed, MILF rebels also reportedly harassed the headquarters of the Army’s 37th IB in barangay Tugaig, Barira, Maguindanao. Tugaig was part of MILF’s Camp Abubakar, which was destroyed during the government’s all-out war in 2000.

Bobby Binito, spokesman for the Cotabato City-based Mindanao Alliance for Peace (MAP), said in a statement: “The impasse in the government-MILF peace negotiation and the gradual pullout of the International Monitoring Team contingents may drag Mindanao back into hostilities that would seriously affect the people of Mindanao.”

Benito said MAP believes that a “negotiated political settlement of the century-old Mindanao problem is the only way to put an end to the damaging war and free Mindanao from the bondage of agony, hardship and all-out economic crisis.”

To dramatize its demand for peace, Benito announced that MAP would hold a peaceful mass rally at this city’s plaza on Saturday. (With Rene Acosta)

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