Stop assassinations, then we’ll talk, Palace tells NDF

Once the New People’s Army (NPA) stops assassinating public officials, the government will resume peace negotiations and agree to a ceasefire with the National Democratic Front-Communist Party of the Philippines (NDF-CPP), Malacañang said yesterday.

Despite the announcement, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Leandro Mendoza has placed police forces nationwide on alert in the wake of clashes between government troops and NPA guerrillas in the past two weeks.

On the other hand, the CPP central committee has called on its cadres and fighters to step up attacks on government targets and private business installations.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao told The STAR in a telephone interview yesterday Malacañang welcomes the NDF’s earlier pronouncement of its intention to resume the stalled peace talks with the government.

"We are happy to hear that and we are willing to undertake talks and schedule informal peace talks with them," he said.

However, Tiglao said the communist rebels must first show good faith and stop the assassination of government officials and politicians nationwide before negotiations could be resumed.

"If they can show good faith that they would honor the ceasefire, which includes not assassinating anybody anywhere in the Philippines," he said.

The CPP’s highest governing body said in a statement that it was imperative for the revolutionary movement to intensify the struggle against "local reactionaries" and US imperialism.

"All CPP cadres must expand the national united front (referring to the NDF), weaken the reactionaries and achieve more revolutionary victories," read a part of the statement.

The statement said the NDF should "harness along the revolutionary path" the growing anti-American sentiments among young Filipino Muslims.

"The NDF must develop and strengthen its alliance with Mindanao’s biggest Filipino Muslim secessionist movement, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)," read an excerpt from the statement.

The task of the NDF-CPP is to arouse, organize and mobilize Filipino Muslims in urban and rural areas and integrate them into the "national democratic revolution," the statement added.

The statement said the NPAs strength must be concentrated in areas with little military presence since the Armed Forces is busy fighting the Abu Sayyaf and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). – With reports from Benjie Villa