MANILA, Sept. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The Philippines is not likely to get an observer status during the 10th Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October, diplomatic sources here said on Monday.

　　Sources who requested not to be named said the country's bid for an observer status will instead be tackled during next year's OIC ministerial meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.

　　"Under the OIC Charter, there is a procedure that all application for an observer status will be discussed six months after it was filed," an official said, adding that Manila only formally applied for an observer status in June this year.

　　Sources also said the Philippines will still lobby before Indonesia, chairman of the OIC Committee of the Eight (Committee),to accommodate the country's application, and that Malaysia as thehost of the summit could also exercise influence over OIC members.

　　Apart from the Philippines, the OIC will also take up the observer status application of Russia and India. Once admitted as observer, the Philippines will share the seat with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the only Filipino Muslim group that has enjoyed observer status in the OIC for 30 years.

　　The MNLF is also recognized by the 57-member OIC as the sole legitimate representative of the Moro people (a local equivalent of "Muslim" residents in the southern Philippines). Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said the observer seat will be "subsumed" to the Philippines government.

　　The Committee could make a recommendation to other OIC members to admit the Philippines as observer during the Summit, which willbe attended by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the first Philippine president invited to such gathering.

　　Members of the Committee also include Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, Libya, Malaysia, Brunei and Bangladesh. It is tasked by the OIC to oversee the implementation of the peace agreement signed between the Philippine government and the MNLF in 1996. Enditem