MANILA: Philippine attack aircraft and artillery bombed rebel positions for a second day yesterday, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster in the south with nearly 130,000 refugees forced to flee.

“We are conducting airstrikes, close air support to our ground forces. Our forces are inching in toward the different barangays (villages) with the objective of clearing them,” said Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna, deputy military chief. “Of course we use big weapons like artillery.”

The military insisted the clashes would not spread but members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) attacked a town on the island of Basilan, around 200 km southwest of where the main fighting was taking place, and disrupted voting in local elections there.

The MILF had called for elections in the six-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to be canceled because they want a new Muslim homeland with more political powers established as part of a peace deal.

Seven fighters, three soldiers and three civilians were killed in the battle for 15 villages in North Cotabato province, the military said. The MILF said four of its members had been killed and three wounded. Manila, smarting from accusations it had abandoned majority Catholics, has vowed to flush hundreds of MILF rebels out of the area. The military said two villages were now clear of rebels. On Basilan, three people, including one soldier and two civilians, were killed after around 300 MILF fighters attacked the center of the town and disrupted polling.

“It was a surprise attack and the area looks like a ghost town now,” said Mayor Tong Istarol.

Lt. Col. Leonard Vincent Teodoro, commander of a marine battalion on the island, said they killed 15 rebels in a five-hour battle as soldiers, backed by artillery and helicopter gunships, drove the fighters away from Tipo-tipo town.

Nearly 130,000 people have fled their homes in North Cotabato, including many from nearby Muslim areas. More than half were crammed into schools and halls while others stayed with relatives or were forced to make shelters using plastic sheets.

Church leaders and lawmakers appealed for a halt to fighting and warned of a humanitarian crisis.

“The imminent refugee crisis is an unacceptable result of the government’s mismanagement of the peace process,” said Risa Hontiveros, deputy minority leader of the lower house.

An agreement on the size of a Muslim homeland and a future government’s powers, including rights over exploring and developing mineral reserves and oil and gas, was halted last week by the Supreme Court amid protests by Catholic politicians.

Legal experts say the Supreme Court will likely rule the territorial deal unconstitutional and order the MILF and the government back to the drawing board. The setback has enraged some MILF commanders who want progress after more than a decade of talks.

Voter turnout was between 70-75 percent in the election for a new governor, vice governor and 24-member legislative assembly.

It was lower than the last ARMM election in 2005, when about 88 percent voted. The polls closed at 3 p.m. (0700) and results will be known within the next two days.

Meanwhile, prominent politicians yesterday filed two petitions urging the Supreme Court to permanently stop the government from signing an agreement with the MILF.

The government and MILF agreed on the key accord as part of a deal to end decades of bloody rebellion. But last week, the Supreme Court, acting on a petition filed by southern Christian politicians wary of losing land and power to Muslims, temporarily halted the formal signing of the agreement in Malaysia.

In a petition yesterday, Senator Mar Roxas said the agreement on ancestral domain with the MILF would create a separate sovereign state in violation of the constitution. “We are for peace, but not for peace at any price, not peace with a gun to our heads,” he said in a statement.

Former Senate President Frank Drilon and Adel Tamano, spokesman of the United Opposition party, filed a separate petition asking the Supreme Court to permanently bar the government from signing “a blatantly unconstitutional agreement” that would erode national sovereignty and territorial integrity.