Church, militant groups want RP-NDF talks resumed

Several Church and militant groups disputed yesterday the claim of President Arroyo that 95 percent of Filipinos are against the resumption of peace talks between the government and communist rebels.

In a statement, the Pilgrims for Peace — an alliance of peace advocates — said the rejection of negotiation with the National Democratic Front (NDF) is not the people’s stand but those of Mrs. Arroyo, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, and "other militarists" in her administration.

"Shameful, an affront to peace-loving Filipino people," said Bishop Deogracias Iñigo, convenor of Pilgrims for Peace. "We want the GRP-NDF formal peace negotiations to resume and proceed in earnest."

The statement said peace talks should be resumed based on The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992 and other "workable and mutually acceptable" agreements.

"We share their avowed goals — the resolution of the armed conflict and the attainment of a just and lasting peace," the statement said. "We believe that this can come about only with basic social, economic and political reforms that address the roots of the armed conflict and benefit the majority of the people."

While Pilgrims for Peace was pushing for peace talks, New People’s Army (NPA) rebels killed an employee of a telecom firm and wounded a mother and her three children in separate attacks yesterday.

In Albay, three suspected NPA guerrillas gunned down an employee of Globe Telecom Co. at a market in Guinobatan town.

The victim was a caretaker of a construction site of a Globe Telecom mobile phone relay station.

NPA rebels are also believed to have hurled a grenade into the house of a farmer on the outskirts of Kidapawan City in Mindanao on Wednesday.

The farmer’s wife and three of her children were wounded in the blast.

Maj. Julieto Ando, military spokesman, said the rebels may have targeted the farmer on suspicion that he was a military informer.

Pilgrims for Peace said Filipinos deplore the apparent trend to abandon peace negotiations in favor of a military solution to the decades-old communist insurgency.

The peace advocates also asked the government to reconsider its policy of welcoming the US government’s designation of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as a terrorist organization.

They said Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Sen. Loren Legarda, seven other lawmakers, 18 Catholic and Protestant bishops and more than 1,000 peace activists have signed a Unity Statement that calls for the resumption of peace talks between the government and the NDF.

Pilgrims for Peace said it has also written the Dutch and Norwegian governments to appeal for continued support to the peace process and reject American pressure to tag self-exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison as a terrorist.

On the other hand, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) said it has not wavered in encouraging the government and the NDF to return to the negotiating table.

Dani Beltran, secretary general of the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace, said Mrs. Arroyo might not have consulted the large voting population who elected Bayan Muna party-list Reps. Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza and Crispin Beltran to Congress.

"Where did she get the (95 percent) figure?" he said.

Meanwhile, Ocampo said Mrs. Arroyo was "pandering" to the interests of the US which has launched a worldwide campaign against groups it considers as terrorist.

"If the NPA has lost its moral right to lead the revolution, how come the Armed Forces is saying it has regained grounds it lost to the military’s anti-insurgency campaign?"

Mrs. Arroyo should say what programs she will implement to win over the poor and peasants who make up the bulk of the NPA, he added.

Rafael Baylosis, NDF consultant on socio-economic reforms, said Mrs. Arroyo was trying to justify the government’s resorting to "back-channel" negotiations.

"We can wait until the next administration is elected in 2004," he said. "One that we hope would be willing to talk with us."

In a statement, the militant Anakbayan said the government is "shameless in using the people as an instrument" in Mrs. Arroyo’s anti-peace talks propaganda.

"We are tired of hearing the government’s excuses in abandoning the peace talks," read part of the statement. "The President would even make up her own survey to justify her indifference to the peace talks."

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-National Capital Region said Malacañang’s announcement that Filipinos are against the peace talks is a "machination" of the people’s uneasiness on the economic and political crises.

"This claim of GMA is dubious and is an ominous declaration of an atrocious war," said Ron Hubbard, Bayan-NCR spokesman.

"In which case, GMA deserves the utmost condemnation of peace-loving citizens of the Republic."