AFP upbeat on talks with NPA

MANILA, Philippines - The military remains upbeat on the talks between the government and the communist rebels despite recent atrocities committed by members of the New People’s Army (NPA).

“We are still optimistic (on the negotiations). It is where we see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Commodore Miguel Rodriguez said yesterday.

Rodriguez, however, said military field units are undertaking measures to prevent the insurgents from staging more attacks.

“Ground forces and ground commanders have been given orders to make sure these things would not happen again. We should be reactive and responsive to the situation,” he said.

Rodriguez said military ground troops will remain on alert to ensure public safety. “We should be able to secure the people in any part of the territory,” he said.

Last July 21, communist rebels kidnapped four officials of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Kitaotao, Bukidnon. The four were transferring detainees from Ozamiz City to the Davao Penal Colony when they were seized.

On Aug. 6, about 30 rebels kidnapped Lingig, Surigao del Sur Mayor Henry Dano in his house in Barangay Lawan. They disarmed Dano’s military bodyguards, and then seized two of them and the mayor.

The kidnapping coincided with a meeting between communist leader Fidel Agcaoili and government chief negotiator Alexander Padilla in Makati City.

Last Sunday, a soldier was killed while three others and seven policemen were wounded after NPA members attacked a police station in Barangay Poblacion in Mobo town, Masbate.

President Aquino has urged the communist rebels to prove their sincerity in the search for peace by stopping its kidnappings.

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) yesterday justified the recent kidnappings staged by the NPA. The NDFP represents the NPA in the peace negotiations with the government.

“The Aquino regime should not begrudge the NPA for having the capability to arrest four armed components of its counterrevolutionary and coercive apparatus and an abusive local official and his two bodyguards,” NDFP spokesman Agcaoili said in a statement.

Agcaoili said the government wants to hide the fact that it still has more than 350 political prisoners under its custody. He also gave assurance that those kidnapped are being treated humanely.

Talks between the government and the NDFP were supposed to resume in Oslo, Norway in 2009. The talks, however, collapsed after the government rejected a demand to free alleged consultants of the NDFP with pending criminal charges.

Both panels are scheduled to resume negotiations next month.