A Filipino soldier stands next to a vehicle damaged late February 16 by a roadside bomb along a highway in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province, in the southern island of Mindanao on Wednesday.

The head of the Philippines’ main Muslim rebel group on Thursday urged his followers to maintain a cease-fire with the government despite failure to pass a bill implementing a peace accord.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Murad Ebrahim made the appeal in a statement carried on the group’s Facebook page.

“In spite of the non-passage of the (bill), the MILF will continue to uphold the peace process and ensure that all the gains will be preserved,” his statement read.

“Our military forces will at all times maintain its defensive posture,” he added.

Lawmakers this month failed to pass a bill that would have implemented a peace agreement forged between the 10,000-strong MILF and the government, which raised fears of fresh violence.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino, whose six-year term ends in June, had lobbied hard for the passage of the bill, which would have granted the nation’s Muslim minority an autonomous southern homeland.

But he was unable to muster enough support in the lower house of Congress to secure a vote before the legislature adjourned this month ahead of national elections in May.

Related articles across the web

• Gov't, MILF urged to talk with groups excluded from peace pact
• Philippine Muslim rebel tells followers to keep ceasefire
• Typhoon victims get shelter aid from PLGU
• Philippine Muslim rebel head tells followers to keep ceasefire
• Bomb blast kills 4 in Philippines; Islamist militant group suspected to be behind attack
• MILF economic zones? OPAPP betrayal!
• Philippine leader hopes Muslim peace bid to go on after his term
• 'Talk to people, lawmakers about BBL'
• Philippines president seeks to preserve peace during vote
• Army, MILF suffer 1 fatality each in 'accidental' encounter in Maguindanao