MARAWI CITY -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday stressed that the government is hunting down members of the Pentagon Gang and the Abu Sayyaf not because they are Muslims but because they are terrorists and criminals.

At the same, the President called on the Ulama or Muslim scholars and professionals to take an active part in the war against criminality and poverty in Mindanao.

In her speech before the Third National Conference of the Ulama Leagues of the Philippines here, the President said the Pentagon Gang and the Abu Sayyaf are two groups that are masquerading as champions of Islam.

"They are not champions of Islam. They are traitors to the tenets of Islam which is a religion of peace and forgiveness," she said.

The President stressed that the administration is not waging a religious war but would want to promote religious understanding.

"Criminals are criminals whether they are Muslims, Christians or pagans," the President said.

In her call on the Ulama to participate in keeping the peace and order in Mindanao, the President said the Ulama could take part in the war against criminality.

The President noted that the Ulama are also the key to solving poverty and the low development index in Muslim areas.

"Let's develop a culture of peace rather war, unite rather than divide, stay united for peace and development in the attainment of a strong Republic," she said.

The President earlier attended the traditional Maranao wedding of Dr, Camid Jun Dumarpa, son of Congresswoman Faysah Maniri-Racman Dumarpa, to Fayda "Fay" Gandamra, daughter of Department of Transportation and Communication Secretary Salikh Dumarpa of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

In short remarks after the wedding, the President said the wedding marks anew the partnership of the national government and the ARMM government.

LUBAO, Pampanga – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to designate a special prosecutor to handle the charges against the Abu Sayyaf members who were responsible for the series of atrocities as well as in the massacre of about 20 families in Basilan last September.

During a luncheon meeting with local mediamen at the Plate and Platters Restaurant in Guagua, Pampanga, the President phoned Justice Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee and ordered him to assign a special prosecutor to handle the said case.

"I want a specific prosecutor to make sure that it moves fast and be given preferential attention," the President said.

In her telephone conversation with Teehankee, the President asked the justice undersecretary to appoint Prosecutor Leo Dacera, who used to head the Witness Protection Program of the DOJ, to handle the case.

According to the President, Dacera will be working with the prosecutors in Zamboanga where the cases against the Abu Sayyaf are filed.

At the same time, the President called on the other victims of the atrocities of the Abu Sayyaf bandits to come out and file the necessary charges against the terrorist group.

On the issue of the American soldier who allegedly shot and wounded a suspected Abu Sayyaf member, the President said she has already instructed Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes to look into the said allegation.

"To go to the process of looking into it, Angie Reyes will take care of that," the President said even as she challenged certain groups to also look into the atrocities committed by the Abu Sayyaf bandits.

LUBAO, Pampanga – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today cast her vote in the barangay elections here in her home province, 13 days after the electoral exercise here was deferred by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) due to the flooding caused by the series of storms that hit the country.

The President, who arrived here at around 11:15 a.m., went straight to Precinct 1A of the Lubao East Elementary School at Barangay San Nicolas where she cast her vote for the election of barangay chairman and kagawads here.

She was listed as No. 84 in the roster of voters in the said precinct with voter’s identification number 25046663.

From the voting precinct, the President, together with her party, motored to the Plate and Platters Restaurant along the San Fernando-Olongapo Road in the municipality of Guagua for lunch.

Before reaching the restaurant, the President made a brief stop at a fruit stand along the highway in Guagua where she bought a kilo of ‘lanzones" to the surprise of the lady fruit vendor and a handful of buyers.

At the Plate and Platters, the President, together with First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, treated her party and several local mediamen with delicious "Kapampangan" foods such as fried "pugo," crispy pork rind (chicharon), chicken stew, fried pork and sautéed banana heart.

GUAGUA, Pampanga – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said she will personally take up with United States Secretary of State Collin Powell the "humane and dignified treatment" of overstaying Filipinos when the latter visits the Philippines early next month.

‘I don’t want a ConAir type of deportation. They should be brought a few at a time through a commercial flight, and not a chartered flight with people handcuffed. I don’t think that’s the right way to treat Filipinos. I’m gonna take that one up" the President told reporters during a luncheon at a local restaurant here.

She was referring to the deportation of about 60 Filipinos who were arrested in the United States and sent back to the Philippines in a chartered airline.

ConAir was in reference to a recent movie starring Nicolas Cage and John Cusack where a group of the most dangerous and notorious prisoners in the US are transferred to a super-maximum security prison aboard a jail-like chartered plane.

It was reported that the Filipino deportees were handcuffed during the flight from the United States to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark, Pampanga.

The President said she has already informed the United States government that she wants to discuss that issue with Secretary Powell during their meeting.

"I have already sent word because they asked me what would I want to take up. I want to take that one up, I said," the President stressed.

President Macapagal-Arroyo also said she will asked Powell to convey her thanks to US President George W. Bush for ensuring the access of Philippine canned tuna to the United States as well as for the additional US$70 million additional support to the Philippines.

The President said she has written directly to Bush to help in maintaining the preferential treatment for Philippine tuna in the American market.

Yesterday, the President said the country’s fears that it will lose its preferential treatment for tuna in the US has been put to rest following the non-passage of a bill that would have allowed the duty-free entry of tuna from the Andes countries in Latin America.