Jan. 15 deadline set for pact with Reds

Malacañang has given the government peace panel until Jan. 15 to finalize its proposed comprehensive peace pact with communist guerrillas.

A key member of the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security (COCIS) told The STAR the deadline was issued by the body to former justice secretary Silvestre Bello III, head of the government negotiating panel, during its last meeting for this year at Malacañang last Monday.

The COCIS member, who asked not to be identified, said the "internal deadline" was given to Bello as per instructions of President Arroyo who wanted the peace process fast-tracked within the remaining one and a half years of her administration. COCIS is chaired by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo.

"As soon as this proposed draft of the final peace pact is submitted by the panel, this would be turned over to the Norwegian government, which is mediating in the peace talks with the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front)," the COCIS official told The STAR.

Before the formal peace talks were ordered suspended by Mrs. Arroyo last year after NPA rebels assassinated Cagayan Rep. Rodolfo Aguinaldo and Quezon Rep. Marcial Punzalan, Bello led the government peace panel in negotiating with the communists led by Jose Ma. Sison and Luis Jalandoni in Oslo, Norway.

According to the same COCIS official, once the proposed peace draft agreement is turned over to the Norwegian government by the Bello panel, it would be transmitted to the CPP-NPA-NDF panel for review and concurrence.

And if both sides concur on the final peace draft, this would trigger the resumption of the formal peace talks with the communists, the COCIS official said.

Rebel spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal earlier announced they are still open on the possibility of resuming peace talks with the government but stated several conditions.

Among them is the removal of the terrorist tag on the CPP, the NPA and their leaders before they return to the negotiating table.

Rosal said Mrs. Arroyo must recognize that the CPP, NPA and the communist political arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF), are advancing a "legitimate revolutionary program" with the support of a "large section" of Filipinos.

Rosal also demanded a stop to all military offensives against the communist guerrillas and NPA-controlled areas.

Malacañang replied and asked the communists to drop their "impossible demands" in urging the US and the 15-nation European Union to drop them from the list of foreign terrorist organization before agreeing to resume formal peace talks.

The military, on its part, claimed the communist rebels are simply engaging in plain and simple talk.

"What gives? The CPP’s sudden change of heart can be attributed to the recent survey result conducted by Pulse Asia that showed 62 percent of the people have little or don’t (trust) the CPP-NPA anymore," said Armed Forces spokesman retired Gen. Eduardo Purificacion in citing a recent survey showing majority of Filipinos do not trust the communists but wanted the government to pursue peace talks with them.

In a statement, Purificacion said the communist movement is steadily losing ground as evidenced by the survey results.

He said the announcement made by Rosal of a possibility of peace talks was aimed in arresting public opinion against them.

"Hard as it may seem, the communists swallowed the bitter pill by agreeing to sit, albeit conditionally, before the negotiating table in a bid to earn ‘pogi points’," Purificacion said.

Purificacion claimed the CPP leaders, in proclaiming they are open for peace talks but at the same time, announcing an intensified offensive next year, are sending mixed and confusing signals.

He said people would become more wary and distrustful with the communists on their intention to end the decades-old insurgency problem.

Two fronts

Notwithstanding a declaration they are still open for peace talks with the government, the CPP yesterday ordered its fighters and activists to "intensify the people’s war" to overthrow the Arroyo administration next year.

And if toppling the President would be unlikely, CPP central committee chairman Armando Liwanag said the rebel movement, along with allied groups, will work to make Mrs. Arroyo lose in the 2004 presidential elections.

Liwanag, said to be the nom de guerre of CPP leader Jose Ma. Sison who is on self-exile in the Netherlands, claimed that "certain forces" that participated in the overthrow of former President Joseph Estrada are making themselves available for a united movement to remove Mrs. Arroyo from office in 2003.

According to Liwanag, rampant cases of corruption in the present administration allegedly involving First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo have prompted the so-called forces to put up a collective stand against Mrs. Arroyo.

In a statement, Liwanag named Vice President Teofisto Guingona and Speaker Jose de Venecia as the two fronts within the administration seeking the ouster of Mrs. Arroyo.

According to Liwanag, Guingona "is open to replacing (the President) before 2004."

Guingona had a falling out with Mrs. Arroyo in differences over foreign policy matters, which included the entry of American forces in the country and the signing of the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) with the United States.

Liwanag also said De Venecia has been pushing for a change in the political system of government to parliamentary type through constitutional amendment "as a gracious way out for Mrs. Arroyo."

"Even if (Mrs. Arroyo) is not removed from office by popular uprising, she would become debilitated and isolated before the 2004 elections," Liwanag said.

Further fueling the anti-Arroyo sentiment is the present economic and political crisis, he said.

He said politicians in the ruling Lakas-NUCD coalition are now bitterly fighting over what is left of the spoils of the corruption cases being exposed.

The CPP leader advised communist guerrillas and sympathizers that an anti-Arroyo united front cannot simply overthrow the entire ruling system.

"It is absolutely necessary to wage people’s war and win victory by force of arms," declared Liwanag.

In calling for intensified armed offensives against the government, Liwanag said that revolutionary forces led by the CPP "are in a better position to achieve greater victories and advance the people’s war."

He claimed the New People’s Army (NPA) can wage a full scale war since it has at least three divisions that can be reorganized into either "nine brigades or 27 battalions of full-time Red fighters with high-powered rifles."

The military, for its part, said the communists are using children in more than half of their fighting force.

According to Purificacion, out of 9,453 NPA regular combatants, around 5,000 of them are boys and girls in their early teens.

Citing figures collated by Global March Against Child Labor, Purificacion said the NPA have been deploying child soldiers in the front lines.

Purificacion made the claim even as estimates made by the UNICEF showed three percent of the NPA regulars are boys and girls under 18 years of age. Some 20 to 25 percent new rebel recruits are also children.

‘Bigkis Lahi’

A militant congressional party list group, meanwhile, expressed their disappointment over reports of intensified police and military operations in Central Luzon, saying such actions further erode the possibility of resuming peace talks with the communists.

Bayan Muna secretary general Robert de Castro cited the implementation of a local counter-insurgency campaign "Bigkis Lahi" of which the military and the police are not only targetting the guerrillas but also barangay officials suspected of being NPA supporters.

De Castro warned that indiscriminate communist tagging and military operations would result in human rights violations just what occured in Mindoro Oriental where he claimed Bayan Muna supporters were killed by the military.

"Already, the military and other armed agents have murdered 50 Bayan Muna members and leaders nationwide," he said.

De Castro also decried the statements made by AFP chief Gen. Dionisio Santiago that Rosal should be executed.

He said Santiago’s statement will even worsen the present situation faced by the government in its efforts to resume peace talks with the communist rebels.

"General Santiago’s remarks were improper," de Castro said, adding the AFP chief’s attitude towards resuming the peace talks had been disappointing.

"If the highest ranking official of the military harbors such thoughts, we can only imagine what type of attitude drives the common soldiers in the field. If the military earnestly wants to make peace with the NPA, it should not machinate on ordering its supposed enemy," he said. — Marichu Villanueva, Benjie Villa, Jaime Laude, Jose Rodel Clapano