Reyes: We're not in a negotiating mood

"We are not in a negotiating mood with the National Democratic Front!"

These were the stern words of Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes when asked if the military will negotiate with the NDF for the release of Chief Inspector Abelardo Martin and Army Maj. Noel Buan, who were abducted by the New People's Army (NPA) in Southern Tagalog last year. Martin is the police chief of Dolores, Quezon, and Buan is an Army intelligence officer.

"We are pursuing rescue and recovery operations. These operations will continue until the NPA releases them," Reyes said.

Reyes said the military will not grant the NDF's request to enforce a five-week suspension of counter-insurgency operations in the provinces of Laguna, Quezon, Batangas, Cavite and Rizal.

The military reported that four rebels were killed yesterday in a clash in a remote village in Sta. Ines, Quezon.

Exiled leaders of the NDF in the Netherlands told an independent panel led by Sen. Loren Legarda that they would free Buan and Martin but the military should temporarily halt its offensive in Southern Tagalog.

"The Armed Forces cannot agree to this demand. (The NDF) created this problem and (it) should solve (this) by immediately and unconditionally releasing the kidnapped officers," Reyes said.

Reyes said the communist leaders are merely using the capture of Martin and Buan to fuel their propaganda machinery and gain media mileage.

He said this was the same scenario when the NPA captured Brig. Gen. Victor Obillo and Maj. Eduardo Montealto in Davao City last year.

For his part, Obillo said the government is taking the right position by not negotiating with the communist leaders for the release of Buan and Martin.

"I have been there. If the decision then was not to negotiate with the rebels, I would have accepted it. We know the risks we are taking as soldiers," Obillo said.

In Malacañang, Presidential Spokesman Fernando Barican said the government would not tolerate any more attacks by communist rebels, who raided last Friday a military detachment in Bukidnon, killing two militiamen and wounding two others.

"We extend the olive branch of peace to those who wish to turn a new leaf and rejoin life in a productive, democratic, peaceful and pluralistic society through the government peace program, including amnesty," Barican said.

Meanwhile, the search for mass graves in Central Luzon of countless communist cadres and sympathizers executed by communist rebels from 1980 to 1991 on suspicions they were military spies ("deep penetration agents" or DPAs) is meant to strengthen the government's case against Jose Ma. Sison and other communist leaders in the Netherlands, a top military official in Tarlac said.

Police intelligence sources said that at the time the communist movement was carrying out Kampanyang Ahos (Garlic Campaign) and "Operation Zombie" in Mindanao, killing some 4,000 rebels, activists and communist sympathizers suspected to be DPAs, a similar campaign, "Operation Tide Bar," was being waged in Central and Northern Luzon.

In Southern Tagalog, the executions were carried out under "Operation Missing Link."

Last year, a suspected NPA "killing field" was found in Angeles City, Pampanga. But the military official said mass graves may also be found in former rebel strongholds in remote areas of Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Bataan, coastal areas of Bulacan and in the mountain-boundary of Tarlac, Pampanga and Zambales.

Several mass graves were recently found in some areas in Mindanao, particularly in Cagayan de Oro City.

The military official said documentation of the NPA killing fields will boost the government's request to the Dutch government to expel Sison and NDF leader Luis Jalandoni, who have been seeking asylum in the Netherlands.

In a statement circulated in the Internet, Sison, however, denied any involvement in the execution of suspected DPAs, tossing the blame for the purge to a communist breakaway group, the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas-Proletarian Revolutionary Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade. - With Benjie Villa, Paolo Romero and DPA