President Gloria Arroyo sent National Security Advisor, Roilo Golez, to meet Muslim and leftist militant leaders who are against the government's support for U.S.-led military action against Saudi-born Osama bin Laden who is hiding in Afghanistan.

"We would like to cover as much territory as possible. We would like to make these dialogues as open as possible, so we want a very objective and unbiased and dispassionate discussion of the issue," noted Golez.

Golez will be armed with the report of U.S. evidence against Bin Laden, linking him to the hijacking of commercial planes that destroyed New York's World Trade Centre and Washington D.C.'s Pentagon, and killed more than 6,000 on September 11.

Golez said he would show to the leaders the reports that were recently presented to Arroyo by U.S. Charge d'Affaires, Robert Fitts, and British Ambassador to Manila, Allan Collins.

Arroyo also held a meeting in Manila with government officials, and thanked those from Mindanao who backed her support for the U.S.-led coalition against Bin Laden.

"This shows that the battle is not against Islam. The battle is against terrorism, whatever the religion of the terrorists," she noted. "Because we are now in this battle, we must strengthen our internal focus against terrorism."

Meanwhile, several Muslim leaders turned down the call of the Abu Sayyaf Group for a jihad against Arroyo.

They also belittled the reported call of a new terror group called Islamic Movement for Electoral Reforms and Good Government (IMERGE) for a jihad against the U.S. last Tuesday.

Both groups are based in Mindanao, southern Philippines.

Emelyn Tapaoan adds: Leaders of Manila's anti-U.S. coalition have intensified their protests in front of the U.S. Embassy, following the Pentagon's admission that an American missile struck the offices of a UN-funded mine clearing operation, killing four UN workers.

"President Arroyo, please stop making the Muslims in Basilan pay for Bin Laden's war," said Arnirah All Lidasan, secretary-general of the Moro-Christian People's Alliance, an inter-faith people's historic struggle for self-determination.