MAKATI CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- The Philippine human rights commission head opposes a government plan to give guns to residents in the southern Philippines for protection against attacks by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) units.

Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Leila de Lima at an Aug. 27 forum in Makati City, southeast of Manila, told foreign correspondents in the Philippines that the commission "is opposed to the arming of civilians in Mindanao in order to protect themselves from rogue element attacks."

"You can no longer be considered a non-combatant by the military or the rebel forces since you are armed in a conflict zone," she told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines meeting.

De Lima was reacting to an announcement that the police were arming civilians. In a radio interview the day before, police spokesman Nicanor Bartolome said police were distributing 12,000 shotguns to civilian auxiliary units around the country as part of the police's "internal security operations."

Bartolome said 1,000 of the guns had already been distributed to auxiliaries in Mindanao, the southern Philippine region, so they could protect villages attacked in recent weeks by MILF factions. Adult residents up to 50 years old with no criminal record and "good moral character" may join auxiliary units if they pass psychiatric and drug tests, the spokesman said. Local government units will pay the auxiliaries allowances, he added.

The mandate comes from an executive order that calls on the police to support the army, de Lima pointed out to the journalists. As such, she said, all her commission can do is try to ensure the government and military follow "strict guidelines" on who receives weapons and "strict monitoring" of how and when these are used.

Catholic Church leaders have expressed concern over renewed violence in Mindanao.

On Aug. 22, Archbishop Romulo Valles of Zamboanga told UCA News from his archdiocese, based 850 kilometers southeast of Manila, that five Mindanao bishops met Aug. 20 to discuss the fighting. The violence erupted after the Supreme Court stopped the Aug. 5 signing of a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between Philippine government and MILF chief negotiators.

He said the bishops are worried residents "will not take lightly" recent MILF attacks, "and they are being heavily armed." The bishops also "expressed concern" about reports of civilians organizing to fight attackers, he added.

In an interview Church-run Radio Veritas broadcast on Aug. 22, Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila, chairman of the bishops' commission on social action, justice and peace, said he was "not in favor" of the move to distribute arms. "If we repay their violence with violence, then this will not end," the prelate warned.

Responding to a question about self-defense, Bishop Deogracias Iniguez of Kalookan over Radio Veritas on Aug. 27 said that Church teaching allows the use of violence to defend oneself in life-threatening situations.

MILF groups under Commander Bravo attacked Iligan City, 780 kilometers southeast of Manila, and surrounding towns in Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur provinces on Aug. 18, reportedly without authorization from the MILF's high command. A week earlier the Philippines armed forces bombed areas in northern Cotabato allegedly invaded by MILF Commander Kato's group.

MILF Central Committee Chair Al Haj Murad said frustration and anger over the blocked memorandum may have triggered the Aug. 18 attacks, but he sought an impartial, non-Filipino investigation of the northern Cotabato clashes.

The armed forces report they have reclaimed troubled areas, but air force bombing continues in Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao provinces, where Bravo and Kato are believed to be hiding.

At the Aug. 27 press meeting in Makati, de Lima said she holds the state and the MILF equally "liable" under the "doctrine of command responsibility." They have "shamelessly violated" standards for protecting civilians and non-combatants, the human rights activist said.

Citing reports of murder, the MILF's use of "human shields" and displacement of thousands of villagers, de Lima stressed: "The heart of this armed conflict is the robbery of (people's) dignity and their safety."

She insisted local and national government units and the military are responsible for planning in advance for the protection, evacuation, food, shelter and medical needs of civilians before any military strike is undertaken.

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