Reme Ahmad in Singapore talks to
Alastair McIndoe in Manila
RA. What does the Moro Islamic Liberation Front represent?
AM: MILF is now the main Muslim separatist rebel group in the southern Philippines, home to the country's largest Muslim population. Islamist secessionists have been waging an insurgency for an independent Islamist state - or the closest they can get to one - in the predominantly Christian south since the late 1960s.
As things stand, the 12,000-strong MILF is pursuing a negotiated settlement after agreeing to a ceasefire with the government in 2001. But, as regional security analysts have long noted, the volatile south is neither in a state of war nor peace.
RA. Why have Christian politicians petitioned to block the settlement? Why do the Muslims groups in the area oppose the deal?
AM: Ostensibly because they want to see the fine print of a preliminary accord between the MILF and government that would enlarge an existing semi-autonomous region for Muslims on the main southern island of Mindanao.
The pact has been kept under wraps, though plenty of details have leaked out in recent weeks. Some Christian communities in Mindanao worry they may find themselves in the enlarged Muslim homeland.
And not all Muslims are eager to join.
That's because the existing one - created after a peace pact with another Moro rebel front - has fulfilled none of its early promise to bring political stability and economic prosperity to Muslim Mindanao. In fact, most of the provinces in the autonomous region are anong the country's poorest.
RA. What do you think is going to happen next? There’s fighting already!
AM: A return to all-out war if the Philippine Supreme Court completely blocks the territorial agreement is extremely unlikely. Both the MILF's pragmatic leadership and the government have long realised that an armed conflict is unwinnable by either side.
Even so, expect plenty of sabre-rattling statements from the rebel leadership if the high court scuppers the pact. The younger, more radical elements in the MILF are the real worry. Past breakdowns in this painfully slow peace process have seen an escalation of attacks on government forces from these so-called "lost commands."