KIDAPAWAN CITY – Moro guerillas in Maguindanao were ordered to stay put at their camps to prevent uncalled-for armed confrontations with government troops now in control of the province after President Arroyo has declared martial law in the area.

Top officials of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said the martial law was not intended for them since soldiers were only given instructions to run after some one hundred gunmen that murdered 57 individuals in Barangay Salman in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

More than half of those killed were media practitioners invited to cover on November 23 the filing of the certificate of candidacy (CoC) of Buluan vice-mayor Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu at the provincial election office in Shariff Aguak, capital town of Maguindanao.

The MILF, however, has expressed apprehension on the possible implications of the martial law declaration in Maguindanao.

As this developed, Toks Ebrahim, chairman of the MILF’s Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), said he has already discussed with some government panel negotiators the implications of the martial law to the ceasefire agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the MILF.

Ibrahim said the declaration is “solely to contain the effects of the Maguindanao massacre.”

MILF rebel leaders in Maguindanao have sent feelers to the government that they are ready to block the possible escape routes of the perpetrators of the massacre who were reported hiding in the hinterlands after the military troops intensified their manhunt operations.

The MILF said the gunmen were alleged followers of Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Datu Junsay, also a town in Maguindanao, which is adjacent to Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak towns.