COTABATO CITY. Malacañang has tapped a Roman Catholic priest who once served in the Cotabato area as the new government chief negotiator for Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Fr. Eliseo Mercado, OMI, former president of Notre Dame University here, would take over the helm of the government peace panel with the MILF rebels after Secretary Silvestre Afable Jr., resigned from the position over the weekend.

In a phone interview yesterday, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza cited Afable's eagerness to return to the private sector as his reason for resigning.

"I talked to him last night and he confirmed his resignation. I think he wanted to return in the private sector," Dureza said.

Immediately, Dureza said they looked for Afable's replacement and Mercado was chosen.

"Afable welcomed Mercado as his successor," he said.

"The immediate replacement of Afable by Mercado will ensure a smooth transition and continuity of the peace negotiation with the MILF," he added.

Mercado has vast experience on peace works in Mindanao. He is known for his deep commitment to the peace process in Mindanao as he served before as a go-between the government and Moro rebel groups.

He was elected floor leader of the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development Consultative Assembly and served as a chairperson of the now-defunct Independent Cease-fire Monitoring Committee of the Philippine government and the MILF.

However, convinced that the Consultative Assembly had been rendered sloppy in the light of the recent events, Mercado recently resigned from the assemblage.

Mercado was previously involved with the Mindanao Task Force on Poverty Alleviation, the Social Reform Agenda, Council for Central Mindanao, the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor for Central Mindanao, the Mindanao Peace Advocates, and the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, among others.

For his part, MILF chief negotiator Mohaquer Iqbal described Afable's resignation as a "setback" in the peace process.

"Afable was respected by the MILF peace panel and other MILF-affiliated agencies of the MILF," he said.

"As to who will replace him, whether Mercado or anyone, it's an internal affair of the Philippine government," he added.

The rebel leader said they know Mercado personally and he is, as with Afable, very well respected as he served in the early stage of the Mindanao peace talks.

To date, the 12,000-strong MILF organization is the only remaining largest Moro rebel group in Mindanao.

Peace talks between the government and MILF hit a snag last year over the issue of ancestral domains claim.

The group, a breakaway faction of the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), is fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.

The MNLF, for its part, sealed a final peace accord with the national government of Sept. 1, 1996.