President Arroyo will travel to Zamboanga City Saturday to give final respects to the dozens of soldiers killed in a heavy battle with the Abu Sayyaf bandits in nearby Basilan.

The President, speaking to reporters in the Palace, said she will also convene a command conference at the Camp General Navarro, the headquarters of the West Mindanao Command, of the top officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on the government’s campaign to crush the Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

“I will visit the soldiers and hold a command conference in Zamboanga,” she said in a chance interview with reporters after signing the Magna Carta of Women in Malacañang.

Twenty-three soldiers and 30 Abu Sayyaf were killed in fierce fighting in Basilan last Wednesday, considered the deadliest clash in recent years. The gun battle reportedly occurred near a base of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Basilan.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said the President is expected to give P250,000 each to the families of the dead soldiers.

On top of the President’s financial aid, Teodoro said the families of the slain soldiers will also be given automatic assistance, including livelihood opportunities and education grants, from AFP chief of staff Gen. Victor Ibrado and the respective service commands.

The President is also expected give assistance to the 14 other soldiers who were wounded in the Basilan encounter, according to Teodoro.

Presidential adviser on the peace process Avelino Razon Jr., meantime, said the clash between the government troops and the Abu Sayyaf rebels would not derail the administration’s peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, saying the gun battle was an “isolated” incident.”

“It’s an isolated case. It will not in anyway affect the upcoming peace talks,” said Razon in a statement sent to the media.

Razon said that some elements of the MILF were involved in the fierce clashes.

According to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP, the casualties included 23 soldiers, 21 ASG bandits and nine MILF rebels.

Razon reiterated that e was “looking forward for the resumption of peace talks between the government peace panel headed by Ambassador Rafael E. Seguis and the MILF panel led by Mohagher Iqbal in Malaysia shortly.” The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) mounted an operation against the ASG in Silangkum, Tipo-Tipo, Basilan, on Wednesday to neutralize them, but encountered fierce opposition.

Nine MILF rebels died in the fighting, but Ghazali Jaafar, vice chairman for political affairs of the MILF, who has been negotiating with the government since January 7, 1998 to settle the decades-old Mindanao conflict, downplayed the involvement of the MILF.

Jaafar told veteran broadcaster Joe Taruc over radio DZRH that the fighting was an “isolated case” and will not harm the peace process.

Seguis, who together his counterpart on the MILF peace panel brought the peace process on track after their “special meeting” in Malaysia on July 28-29, shared Razon’s sentiments as he welcomed Jaafar’s statement.

He said the Basilan incident won’t be an obstacle to the search for peace that could derail the talks’ resumption.