Palace: No commitment yet on release of detained members

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang maintained on Saturday that it has not made any commitment to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for the release of 25 of its detained members, saying that the list of names still has to undergo a thorough review.

Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the government cannot make a commitment to the MILF that it will release 25 of its detained members.

“From what I understand, they are demanding for the release and wala naman tayong commitment doon [we did not make any commitment on that],” Valte said on Saturday.

“Titingnan natin yung andoon sa listahan and iisa-isahin yung mga pangalan doon kung ano talaga ang status [We will go over the list and check the names one by one to check on their status],” she said.

“We will leave it to the panel on how to go about this,” she added.

It will be recalled that government peace panel chairman Prof. Marvic Leonen, after the successful informal talks between the Philippine government and the MILF last January 13 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, had said that it will review the list containing the names of 25 detainees allegedly MILF members.

The MILF has been asking the government to release the 25 detainees.

“We committed to make a review of their cases and make a report of government action on this in the February meeting,” Leonen said. (report from Madel Sabater, Manila Bulletin)