Philippines: Govt scraps peace deal with Islamists

after two weeks of deadly clashes. (deadly clashes - the Religion of Peace's idea of peace the world over.)

The pact signed last month between leaders of the mostly Christian nation and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had called for a Muslim homeland to be established on the revolt-hit southern Mindanao island.

God bless the Christians who have been massacred by the Muslims.

Fajardo said President Gloria Arroyo was "sensitive" to the objections of local Christian leaders, who are opposed to the agreement and have taken to the streets branding it a "sell-out."

"The president is committed to peace," Fajardo told journalists. "The administration is sensitive to public sentiments and the president is also committed to upholding the constitution.

"In doing so she will seek a new agreement within the boundaries of the law set within the constitution.

"The president will not allow adventurism by MILF forces to pressure government to sign any agreement, even if it is for peace," she said.

On August 4 the Philippine Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order against the agreement following protests by serveral politicians who saw it as "unconstitutional."

"Adventurism" she calls it. I would call it something else entirely.

Two rebel MILF commanders have since taken up arms, in defiance of the group's leadership, and killed Christian civilians and looted and burned homes and farms. Over 100,000 people have been made homeless due to the fighting.

The rebel MILF commanders have linked their attacks to the Supreme Court's suspension, saying that the government had designed the agreement to fail.

It would have created a Sharia state within a state:

The pact had called for the establishment of what amounted to a state within a state with its own "basic law," police and internal security force. The region would have been allowed to run its own banking and finance system, civil service, education and legislative and electoral institutions.It would also have been given full authority to develop and dispose of minerals and other natural resources within its territory.

The proposed homeland would have been governed by the Bangsamoro (Muslim) Juridical Entity (BJE), with full authority to send trade missions to and strike economic cooperation agreements with other countries and send representatives to UN agencies and the Association of Southeast Nations.

Filipino Sharia.