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The mayor of Iligan said he and residents stand firm against the inclusion of eight villages into the proposed expansion of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. He made the statement as two bomb blasts rocked the city and resulted in the deaths of at least four people on Sunday.

Explosions took place at two local inns 30 minutes after Mayor Lawrence Cruz was interviewed on ANC's Top Story newscast at 5 p.m.

We have spoken in the previous plebiscites and in 2001, Cruz said, citing figures wherein nearly all of Iligan residents voted against the city's inclusion in the ARMM. The proposal is included in the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front .

Cruz maintained that the people of Iligan were not consulted on the plan to infuse eight of the city's villages into the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity . The mayor said these eight villages comprise 82 percent of Iligan's total land area.

Shortly after the mayor's interview, initial reports said that a bomb went off at Traveller's Lodge in the city. A four-year-old boy, a woman and a retired policeman who was renting a room at the inn were injured in the blast.

A witness said the explosion took place shortly after a man signed up for a room. The man hurriedly left the hotel after going to his room.

Within minutes of the first explosion, another blast was reported at the Caprice Pension House, which sits 400 meters from the Traveller's Lodge. The explosion injured an employee.

The injured were identified as Tess Actub and Saripada Kudarat. The child and the fourth victim -- a 17-year-old girl -- were unidentified as of posting time.

Initial reports said improvised explosive devices were used in the two incidents.

Bomb experts, meanwhile, rushed to a third hotel -- the Casa Royale -- to check for explosives after employees reportedly received a threat.

As of the moment, we are still investigating the matter, Cruz said when interviewed on ANC's The World Tonight newscast past 10 p.m.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Not keen on links but...

The mayor declined to link the blasts to the city's battle against the inclusion of its villages into the BJE. He said that police and the military are now coordinating efforts to determine the group behind the attacks.

We are hoping it is not but in all indications, , Cruz said, citing threats received since last week.

In the past ten days nakakatanggap kami ng text message na something sinister will happen to the city with regard to our stand against BJE, he said.

Despite this, the mayor said they in Iligan will not soften their stand agains the BJE. He also insisted that Iligan folk were not consulted on the proposed ARMM expansion plan and the villages' inclusion in the expanded Muslim region.

Meanwhile, the mayor also denied that village officials and residents were given money to stage street demonstrations against the BJE as alleged by the MILF.

To accuse us of paying them cash so that they will attend boggles my mind. It is untrue. I only got a smuggled copy of the MOA on Aug. 1 and on Aug. 2 I had a multi-sectoral meeting and on Aug. 4 more than 10,000 immediately marched to show our disgust and protest our inclusion in the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity ancestral domain, he said.

Muslim, Catholic leaders for peace efforts

In a related development, Malacañang announced Sunday that President Arroyo had requested an interfaith group of Catholic and Muslim leaders to consider leading the civil society in efforts of bringing peace to troubled areas of Mindanao.

Arcbishop Fernando Capalla, one of the convenors of the Bishop Ulama Conference said they are in the process of consulting among leaders and members to take on this new role, Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said.

The press secretary added that the President requested the BUF to oversee peace efforts since she gives value to a deep consultative process to hear the views of stakeholders in the private sector, the local government units and all those affected.

The attacks took place Sunday as Malacañang acknowledged late last week that there are other ways of granting Muslims in Mindanao their demand for an ancestral homeland without changing the system of government from unitary to federal.

Officials, however, declined to discuss these alternatives while the Supreme Court is still deliberating on the initialed MOA-AD between the government panel and the MILF.

Sources said the governments peace negotiators will no longer sign the MOA-AD in the face of widespread opposition to it and questions about its constitutionality. Instead, the government will try to renegotiate it with the MILF.

The sources said the governments peace panel first has to inform the MILF about its decision not to sign the MOA-AD, which was supposed to be done August 5 in Malaysia.

The government also has to inform the peace brokers such as the Malaysian government and the Organization of Islamic Conference

Let Supreme Court decide

The President, in her meeting Friday night with the visiting Prime Minister of Kuwait, said her government would be playing a supporting role and would let civil society groups iron out the problems in the peace process.

Yes, there are political dynamics. We are working to sort them out. The government will assume a supporting role and let non-government organizations support on the peace efforts spearhead the discussions for the problematic concerns. We want to end the conflict that clearly claimed more than 120,000 lives, she said.

On Saturday, Dureza neither confirmed nor denied this Web site's report that the Arroyo administration has already decided not to sign the ancestral domain agreement with the MILF and will instead seek to renegotiate the accord.

He said it would be best to just wait for the ruling of the Supreme Court.

The issue is now with the Supreme Court. Let's wait for its ruling and all will have to submit to it when it comes. The highest tribunal is the final arbiter. It will rise above the din and noise created by less noble considerations, Dureza said.