A senior member of the government panel negotiating peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday said that his panel will investigate an alleged report of mass recruitment being carried out by the MILF in Zamboanga Peninsula.

Retired General Rodolfo Garcia, member of the GRP Panel, said that any recruitment being undertaken by the MILF now when there is peace talks and there also exist a general cessation of hostilities is a clear violation.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Tuesday said a former poll official, accused by the opposition of fraud in last year''s elections, is believed to be hiding in Maguindanao.

The MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, said Virgilio Garcillano even met with reporters near one of its jungle base. But it was quick to say that the MILF never coddled Garcillano.

Mayor Celso Lobregat with other local officials and the government panel in the GRP-MILF peace talks met yesterday for six hours of "intense discussion" on the alleged agreement between the two negotiating panels to carve out Mindanao in favor of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Among the personalities present at the meeting, which was held inside the City Hall conference room from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., were Vice Mayor Beng Climaco, Councilors Rudy Lim, Mila Velasquez, Nonong Guingona, Elong Natividad, Kim Elago, Asbi Edding and Ely Enriquez, religious personalities Msgr. Cris Dela Cruz and ADZU President Fr. William Kreutz and other sector leaders.

The national government will have to operate under a reenacted budget, at least in the first month of 2006, House Speaker Jose de Venecia and Appropriations Committee chairman Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. said.

Palace said it is important to the national interest that the members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, regardless of their political affiliation, focus their effort on the passage of the 2006 budget.

The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in celebration of its 179th Parish Fiesta on December 8, 2005, will sponsor several activities/competition nightly after the Daily Novena Masses which will start on November 29, 2005 at 5:00 p.m. on December 2; Teen Pop Star on December 3; Dance Sport 2005 on December 4; Doble Cara Singing Contest on December 5 and Festival Street Dance Competition on December 6. But on Dec. 7, on the eve of the Fiesta, a procession will immediately follow after the Novena Mass and on the Feast Day, December 8, a Pontifical Mass to be presided by Most Rev. Carmelo DF Morelos, D.D. Archbishop of Zamboanga will be held at 9:00 a.m.

Local Muslim leaders have strongly encouraged Muslim parents to send their children to Islamic learning institutions considering that there are already a number of Islamic schools here in Zamboanga City.

Alim Abdulhamid Sambas, a noted educator and school director, said that it is but practical and highly acceptable for parents to enroll their students in Islamic schools so that the learning of Islamic values and ways of life would be more conducive to their school children.

Business leaders in Zamboanga Peninsula believed that marine-based business will still be major top earner for the following year, despite several problems have emerged in the fishery sector, from high operational cost to stringent international standard for marine products in the international market.

It''s good that with all this bird flu scare upon us, we are doing everything, or at least many things, to prevent, if not combat and contain the dreaded disease in case it finally comes.

My fervent wish now is that more or less the same sense of alertness and preparedness be given to the far more dangerous and destructive spiritual illnesses and moral aberrations that threaten us just as much as the bird flu.

So much has been discussed and said about the quest for a lasting peace in Mindanao and so many presidents, senators, congressmen, governors, local officials and concerned citizens were involved in the discussion and ultimately the quest for peace in Mindanao, but none whatsoever brought lasting peace to Mindanao. The Mindanaoans remain divided on the issue, the national government remains the broker ever since, the secessionist groups remain belligerent to a point of becoming lawless, religion and ideology remain the battle cry of almost all those who have a stake and interest in the governance of Mindanao. Elected government officials use the same issues to get the sympathy of their constituents in times of their inadequacy to govern their locality and some of them use the issue to rally for their cause but peace is still elusive. Simply said, Mindanao remains to be the hotbed of a clash of civilization.

It is surprising that for over 30 years and with five presidents of the Republic have finished their terms forcefully or through the effect of the law, nothing much has been achieved. Some parts of Mindanao remain in poverty, warring groups and family feuds still haunt the countryside, bloody incidents with innocent lives lost in senseless battles, families are dislocated and worst even fertile farms whose products are supposed to feed the hungry in Mindanao are rendered unproductive because of unstable peace and order situation. Farmers and some landowners prefer to migrate in peaceful cities and be squatters to remain alive. Soldiers and rebels continue to clash in the jungles of Mindanao without knowing what they are fighting for because only their officers and the mighty politicians know the real reason for these bloody incidents.

In the course of my volunteer work with Silsilah I had occasion to run, with a sister from the Religious of the Good Shepherd congregation, a training for para-counselors at the Zamboanga City Reformatory Center over a week-end recently. The trainees were staff of the ZCRC and 10 selected women "residents". I can''t say if I succeeded in teaching the participants some principles of counseling but I certainly learned a lot from the experience of being there.

I''m glad Atty. Mel Sadain will help the senior citizens avail of the 20% discount when buying medicines.

Knowing medicines are very expensive nowadays, it really affects the budget of families. Our government had passed a law a long time ago in order to help the elderly avail of the 20% discount, which the senior citizens enjoy in Metro-Manila, but not here in Zamboanga.

When a person commits rape, he doesn''t give a damn about the animalistic act he does to his victim. A group of rapists don''t care how painful and humiliating the abuse they are committing on the woman they violate. They only have one thing: the perversity of satisfying their sexual urge like wild animal devouring a helpless prey.

A rapist is not human but a beast. Those US marines who are accused of raping a Zamboangueña in Subic, Olongapo City are likened to that of beasts who prey on the opposite sex. They could be drug crazed and alcoholic drunk that makes them more animals than men. They are not soldiers trained to be the best of men discipline, respectful and courteous even if they belong to the mightiest military on earth. They are an embarrassment, a great shame to the organization they belong (US Marines) and their government.

Two unidentified gunmen shot and killed a habal-habal driver and took his motorcycle in Barangay Pasobolong last Sunday night.

Culianan police investigator PO1 Arnulfo Toribio identified the fatality as Jeswin Gonzales, 20, single, of Nazareth Village, Culianan.

Four Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in fresh fighting in Maimbung town in Jolo island, reports said yesterday.

Officials said soldiers also captured a well-entrenched Abu Sayyaf base in the hinterland village of Buansa in Indanan town at the weekend.