Islamic clerics oppose Estrada reelection bid

Islamic clerics have called on Filipino Muslims not to support former President Joseph Estrada’s bid to return to power in elections in May.

The separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front said on its website today that the Bangsamoro Supreme Council of Ulama had studied Mr Estrada’s actions and policies before and after his election and had issued a fatwa, or religious edict, concluding that “he is really an enemy of Islam”.

Mr Estrada was elected president in 1998. The edit said his “all-out war” policy against the separatists in 2000 caused widespread destruction and displacement of up to one million Muslims from their communities in the southern Philippines.