MANILA - The outrage over the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province could offer a chance for the government to push peace talks with Muslim rebels forward, a regional security expert said on Monday.

Manila can also use the brutal murders as a reason to disband private armies under the control of powerful warlords, which were formed on the pretext of fighting rebels, said Sidney Jones, senior adviser to International Crisis Group's (ICG) Asia program.

"A key way to reduce the need for reliance on civilian forces would be to reach a lasting peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)," Jones said in the ICG's latest report.

The Philippine government and the MILF, the country's main Muslim rebel group, have been talking since March 2001 in an effort to end more than 40 years of secessionist conflict that has killed about 120,000 people and displaced 2 million.

Manila has proposed to disarm and demobilize 11,000 armed guerrillas belonging to the MILF once it secures a political deal to grant autonomy to Muslim communities in the south of the largely Roman Catholic state.

Two weeks ago, the government and rebels resumed formal talks in Kuala Lumpur, re-establishing cease-fire mechanisms, including cooperation to pursue criminals and Islamic militants on the resource-rich southern island of Mindanao.

Jones said the two sides can work together to pursue the massacre suspects, members of the private army of a clan leader allied to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, "to give momentum to peace talks".