Gonzales wants intensified operations against NPA

DAVAO CITY — National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales called yesterday for an all-out offensive against the New People’s Army (NPA) after communist rebels killed several soldiers and policemen in Masbate and other parts of the country.

"The AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the PNP (Philippine National Police) have to regain the initiative," he told The STAR yesterday.

"We will make some vital changes in our efforts against the communist insurgency," he said.

Meanwhile, PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao placed police in four NPA-infested regions — Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Bicol Region and Western Visayas — on full alert starting yesterday.

In a recent radio interview, Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) spokesman, had threatened to intensify offensives against government troops to force President Arroyo to step down.

Gonzales said government troops should therefore launch "aggressive and massive" operations against all communist fronts across the country. "I think we have to solve the problems as they are," he said. "The communist threat is definitely escalating."

Gonzales, who arrived here Sunday night on a private trip, said communist rebels remain the biggest threat to the country’s security.

"I am submitting my recommendations to the President today regarding the matter," he said. "It should not go on that every day these communist rebels go on killing police and military personnel."

The government has to be aggressive to stop the NPA attacks, Gonzales said.

On the other hand, communist rebels are pressing the government for a peace agreement.

Rosal told The STAR in a telephone interview the government should immediately sign a peace agreement with the National Democratic Front, the CPP’s political arm.

"Hindi kami ang ‘di pumapansin sa peace negotiations kundi ang gubyerno (It is the government that is ignoring the peace negotiations)," he said.

"Kahit magpalit pa ng peace adviser kung hindi rin bibigyang pansin ni Arroyo, wala rin pupuntahan (Even if the peace adviser is changed, it would go to nothing if Mrs. Arroyo ignores it)."

Rosal said chief rebel negotiator Luis Jalandoni had written a letter to President Arroyo urging her to implement the Comprehensive Agreement on Immediate and Just Peace (CAIJP), but the overture "fell on deaf ears."

Jalandoni sent the letter to Mrs. Arroyo last September, he added.

Rosal said instead of replying, Mrs. Arroyo suspended the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), which granted immunity from arrest to communist leaders in exile in Utrecht, the Netherlands. — Edith Regalado, Cecille Suerte Felipe, James Mananghaya, Artemio Dumlao, Cesar Ramirez