The military yesterday strongly denied it has forged a truce with followers of jailed Muslim leader Nur Misuari who were blamed for attacking soldiers in the southern Philippine island of Jolo. Sulu provincial governor Benjamin Loong earlier told reporters that he helped broker the agreement with rebel leader Habier Malik, who led an uprising in the island earlier this month. "There is no such agreement and the operation against Malik and his group still continue. Malik is in hiding and we are hunting him down," Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza told Arab News.He said declaring a cease-fire in Jolo is entirely in the hands of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Efren Abu. In Manila, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Arroyo was considering a possible cease-fire and has ordered Abu to fly to Jolo this week to assess whether the government should forge a truce with the rebels. Bunye defended the initial assaults against the armed followers of Nur Misuari, founder of the former separatist rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). "We need to assert the authority of the republic in the area, because without punitive actions, the attacks would possibly be repeated and repeated," Bunye said.