Philippines officials and rebel Muslim representatives are to meet in Malaysia early next month to set a timetable for formal negotiations to end the 25-year southern Philippines rebellion, Defense Secretary Ed Ermita said today.

President Gloria Arroyo's government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) agreed with Malaysian officials to hold their "last exploratory talks" in Kuala Lumpur after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad turns over power to Deputy Premier Abdullah Badawi on Oct 31, Ermita said.

He said he expects the early November meeting to set the timetable for the "reopening of the formal negotiations of the two panels."

The 12,500-member MILF has been waging an armed campaign to set up an Islamic state on the southern third of the largely Roman Catholic Philippines.

Manila has been under pressure to settle the rebellion by political means to deny foreign Islamic militants, particularly the Jemaah Islamiah, an operational base in their armed bid to set up an Islamic caliphate in Southeast Asia.

The MILF renounced terrorism earlier this year, and US President George W Bush said during a state visit here last week that Washington would extend up to 30 million dollars in development aid to the southern Philippines once a peace treaty is signed. - AFP