COTABATO CITY – President Arroyo’s suspension of military offensives and the positive response of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) with its suspension of military actions continued to gain support, with the influential European Commission (EU) delegation to the Philippines adding its voice hailing the truce.

Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo also commended the two parties for their agreement “establishing a mechanism on the protection of non-combatants in armed conflict.”

Mindanao folks quoted Quevedo, who voiced hope this also will lead to a mechanism that will pave the way for the non-combatants’ safe return home and the rehabilitation of their homes and other properties damaged in the fighting.

“I also hope that to build confidence, the two parties collaborate on bringing the present bakwits (evacuees) home and rehabilitate their homes and properties before Ramadan,” said the Catholic prelate, a staunch advocate of peace and Christian-Muslim harmony.

A schedule of Muslim festivals and holidays in the Philippines, as gathered by the Office on Muslim Affairs, puts the first day of Ramadan tentatively on August 22.

Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the EC delegation to the Philippines, led EU ambassadors on a recent visit to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) particularly in Maguindanao to see the situation of the multitude of internally displaced persons in evacuation centers.

With MacDonald were French Ambassador Thierry Borja de Mozota, Ambassador Robert Brinks of The Netherlands, and World Food Program Country Director Mr. Steven Anderson. They checked on the evacuees in evacuation centers in the towns of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Datu Piang, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, and Talayan talked personally to local officials and the IDPs.

MacDonald took advantage of the July 28-29 ARMM visit to hail the decision of the Philippine government and the MILF to stop the nearly year-old resurgence of fighting in Central Mindanao.

In a statement from ARMM’s Bureau of Public Information, it quoted MacDonald as saying he was optimistic both sides’ suspension of military offensives will pave the way for peace in Mindanao.

Mozota cited the IDPs’ desire to go home to their villages.

“We have to spend a little time to see the IDPs and talk to the people on the ground, and we have seen their miseries in the evacuation centers. That’s why I am convinced that they have been wanting to return home,” the French envoy said.

ARMM Executive Secretary Oscar Sampulna stressed that ARMM Gov. Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan has been consistently supportive of President Arroyo's peace initiatives with the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front.

"You can always count on Regional Governor Ampatuan and his administration’s support to the efforts towards achieving peace in Mindanao. It will not change," said Sampulna.

ARMM-Department of Social Work and Development Secretary Bai Soraida Biruar also welcomed the truce which she said gives social workers and aid agencies the opportunity “to make a comprehensive recovery and rehabilitation plan to return the IDPs to their places.”

Biruar’s office puts the total of IDPs at 61,501 in the ARMM area, 37,400 of them in the evacuation centers, and 24,052 outside the evacuation centers.

The DSWD told the EC delegation that the government and foreign donors have spent P993.7 million so far for humanitarian assistance for both early recovery and rehabilitation program.