NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6562

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: Philippine Insurgency: No End In Sight
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Date: 15 Sep 92 01:33:58 GMT
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/** reg.philippine: 252.0 **/
** Topic: IPS: No End to Insurgency **
** Written  3:15 pm  Sep  7, 1992 by fbp in cdp:reg.philippine **
From: Foreign Bases Project <fbp>
Subject: IPS: No End to Insurgency

/* Written 12:06 am  Sep  7, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "PHILIPPINES: DESPITE TALKS, NO END " ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: PHILIPPINES: DESPITE TALKS, NO END TO ASIA'S LONGEST INSURGENCY

/repeat/

manila, sep 4 (ips/cecile balgos) -- philippine communist rebels and
the government have agreed to talk to each other, but there is still
no end in sight to the country's 23-year-old marxist insurglthe
longest-running in asia.

government representatives and officials of the national
democratic front (ndf), an umbrella leftist group that includes the
communist party of the philippines (cpp), met this week in the ndf's
exile base in the netherlands. they agreed to further negotiations.

as the talks were going on, two top communist leaders were
released. but they emphatically stated that the left will continue
its armed struggle unless the government starts implementing
''necessary reforms''.

''for the moment, the movemejhi
mgat the armed struggle
would have to be the primary means of achieving its goals,'' said
former ndf leader satur ocampo, who was released tuesday after three
years in jail.

defence secretary renato de villa countered: ''as long as there
are armed rebels who are operating in the field, (the military)
cannot disengage.''

president fidel ramos early this week ordered the formation of
the national unification commission (nuc), which will draft the
amnesty package for rightist and leftist rebels.

ramos indicated that a truce during any peace talks was unlikely,
saying ''cease-fires have a way of being broken''. he said his
government was more interested in forging a more lasting peace.

but ramos had trouble convincing the extreme left of his
sinvvta former general who served as philippine constabulary
chief under marcos, ramos was known to have been against ceasefire
agreements with the communist new peoples army (npa) during his
stint as aquino's defence secretary.

recent appointments of his former military colleagues to advisory
posts are being hit as proof of militarisation of his 50-day-old
government. the ramos government has also been hit for being chaotic
and lackluster.

ramos needs peace to encourage foreign investment, which he
hopes will lift the philippine economyvis doldrums. ramos is
therefore determined to get the rebels to end the insurgency.

that may be easier said than done. commented ex-ndf chairman-
turned-government adviser horacio morales: ''it is sad to say that
this process is a complex one. there is no basis to say the peace
process will be easy. there is no timeframe.'' (more/ips)



philippines: despite (2)

morales was once a politiq oltainee himself under the regime of
former dictator ferdinand marcos. he accompanied the government
panel to the talks this week in utrecht in the netherlands.

still, the former chief of the cpp's military arm romulo kintanar
said after his release from jail thursday: ''i believe president
ramos has achieved partial victory toward peace because he is not
imposing the surrender of arms (as part of the peace process).''

ramos, however, has been known to dither on that issue. with the
nuc expected to come up with an amnesty programme in the next thr cnmahmonths, h
e has plenty of time to make it a prerequisite for talks.

meanwhile, newly-appointed nuc head haydee yorac has already
rejected ndf suggestions that the peace talks be held in ''neutral
grounds'' abroad. ''this is a philippine affair,'' she said.
''things should be sorted out, negotiated and resolved here.''

the cpp has been waging a war against the government since the
late 1960's, shortly after it was formed. it flourished during the
marcos era but began losing steam after the philippine strongman was
ousted and corazon aquino became president in 1986.

talks between the rebel group and the aquino government were held
in 1987 and a short-term ceasefire was forged. but the negotiations
bogged down due to increasing mutual distrust and fightiqvawrtbhubh
units of the communist military arm again carried out
assassinations of the group's various ''enemies'' like police
officials and occasionally bombed government buildings.

but while the rebels' skirmishes with government troops were no
less violent, the communist movement after 1986 no longer figured as
prominently in the public mind as it did during the marcos era.

the aquino administration seemed more concerned with trying to
quell similar moves of rightist rebels, which it considered more
capable of overthrowing the government,2?
1---008'8=3 '3=3, :970
attempts staged by military rebels before her term ended this june.

the communist group itself underwent an upheaval as victims of
internal purges were found in mass graves in 1989.

the collapse of communism in eastern europe and the collapse of
the soviet union added more to the demoralisation in party ranks in
the past few years.

local right-wing columnist antonio abaya noted : ''marxism-
leninism is brain-dead even if the body still twitches. the armed
struggle has lost all reason for being ...'' (end/ips/cb/kd/92)



** End of text from cdp:reg.philippine **