MANILA, Aug 4: The Philippine Supreme Court on Monday stopped the government from signing a land deal with Muslim separatist rebels, in yet another setback to efforts to end more than 30 years of deadly insurgency.

The ruling was in response to a petition filed by officials in the southern Philippines who oppose the signing on Tuesday of an agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government.

The planned deal had sparked massive street protests in the country’s south amid fears that non-Muslim areas could be covered under the deal giving the MILF control over large swathes of lands in southern Mindanao island.

“The court issued a TRO (temporary restraining order) restraining the respondents from signing the MOA (memorandum of agreement),” court spokesman Midas Marquez told reporters in Manila.

The agreement would give MILF powers over an autonomous area that would have its own legal, banking and education systems, civil service and internal security force, and had been seen as paving the way for a formal peace deal with the rebels.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu called the decision a “setback,” but he said the 12,000-strong group remained “committed to solving the problem peacefully.” Kabalu said MILF peace negotiators have yet to formally receive the Supreme Court order, although presidential spokesman Jess Dureza said Tuesday’s signing ceremony in Malaysia would not take place.

“We submit to the sound discretion of the (court), which is the ultimate arbiter of issues and so effectively the signing of the agreement will have to be cancelled,” Dureza said.

The court ordered the government to submit a draft of the agreement later this week, and defend its merits in oral arguments on Aug 15.

Dureza said Arroyo was confident the court will eventually “uphold the position” of the government and lift all obstacles to ending MILF’s insurgency, which began in 1978.

Congressman Erico Fabian, who had filed the petition against the deal, said the ruling was “very good news for our people down south” who opposed the draft accord.

The ruling came hours after an estimated 15,000 people of different faiths took to the streets in the predominantly Christian port city of Zamboanga to oppose the agreement, while another 8,000 protested in southern Iligan city.

Protesters carried placards saying “MILF go home,” but they later peacefully disbanded.

Many non-Muslims oppose the deal because their land could be included in the settlement, which observers criticised as a move meant to boost President Gloria Arroyo’s popularity.

“It’s ill-timed, and there was already a lot of opposition to this deal,” said Julkipli Wadi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of the Philippines.

“This is a setback, but could also be a blessing since the high court could finally solve the legal questions on the draft agreement.” Congressman Fabian warned that the draft accord with the MILF “is a very emotional issue. This might revive old wounds,” leading to renewed fighting.

The draft agreement has put a question mark over the future of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which is due to hold elections later this month.

Established in 1996 after a peace deal between Manila and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the semi-autonomous ARMM was supposed to have solved the so-called Muslim problem in the southern Philippines but was seen by many Muslims as a sell-out. MILF, which split from the MNLF after ideological disagreements over the future direction of the movement, has continued to fight for a Muslim homeland in this Roman Catholic-majority country.—AFP