MANILA — Philippine troops plan to start visiting mosques and madrasahs in the capital of the Roman Catholic nation to learn more about the community and address their problems, though Muslim locals are worried about their real intentions.

"The idea here is that rather than imposing the right-handed approach — military operations — we're offering the left-hand approach or enhancing community-based relations," Major-General Benjamin Dolorfino, commander of military units in Manila, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

He said troops would hold a series of meetings to know more about the Muslim community's problems and offer them solutions.

"The primary approach is dialogue aimed at knowing the problems and eventually bringing in the stakeholders so that we can bring solutions to the community's problems."

Dolorfino, himself a Muslim, believes visits to traditional Islamic meeting places would deny militants "potential sanctuary, where they can plot to explode bombs in the cities".

"We're trying to hit so many birds with just one stone," he said.

An estimated 800,000 Muslims reside in metropolitan Manila, the sprawling capital of 12 million people.

The mineral-rich southern region of Mindanao, Islam's birthplace in the Philippines, is home to 5 million Muslims out of the country's 87 million population.

Suspicion

But local Muslims were cautious about the plans.

"We're not against deployment of soldiers in our villages," Nasruddin Amerol, one of the community leaders in Manila, told Reuters.

"As long as we would be informed of the real purpose of their stay, we're happy to host them."

The army came under sharp criticism after it deployed soldiers around slum areas of the capital, amid reports the troops were conducting an invisible campaign against left-wing activists ahead of congressional elections in May.

The local Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday criticized the deployment of soldiers in slum communities, citing evidence they are violating the right to assemble and freedom of expression.

Amerol said he could not blame some Muslim residents if they feared the presence of soldiers because of their past experiences in the south.

"They're welcome here as long as they respect our culture and our religion," he asserted.

"We're not allowing them inside our mosques unless there are Muslims among them."

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the largest and oldest groups, are separately pursuing peace talks with Manila.

MILF said Saturday, March 10, that the government has offered Muslims in the southern provinces a self-determination, an unprecedented move expected to push forward stalled peace talks to end one of the world's longest-running conflicts.

Manila has also announced that it would meet MNLF representatives in July in the Saudi city of Jeddah for peace talks brokered by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

The MNLF fought for an independent Islamic state in the south from the late 1960s until the OIC, through Libya, intervened and convinced them in December 1976 to accept autonomy for 13 Muslim provinces, including the western island of Palawan.

Manila and MNLF signed in 1996 a peace agreement, which was floundered due to a lack of funds, poor implementation and opposition from hardliners on both sides.

Source : http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1173694804133&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout