By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:08:00 08/28/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Threats by members of the resurgent “Ilaga” (literally rats in Visayan) vigilante group to kill 10 Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters for every civilian killed by the rebels are not a violation of the law, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Thursday.

"These are nothing but threats and we cannot hold them criminally liable for making these statements," Gonzalez said

The vigilantes will incur criminal liability only when they make good on their threat, he said.

Gonzalez also said the law does not prohibit the formation of groups so long as these do not sow terror and violence.

The Ilagas earned notoriety in the early 1970s for their savagery in the government campaign against the Moro National Liberation Front.

Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor agreed with Gonzalez but stressed that civilians cannot take the law into their own hands.

"They should let the law take its own course," Blancaflor said.

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