US won’t stop RP-NDF talks

Although Washington has described the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) as terrorist groups, the United States will not stop the Philippine government from pursuing peace initiatives with the local communist movement.

"It’s domestic politics," US Embassy spokeswoman Karen Kelley told The STAR yesterday.

This developed as exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison scoffed at the US government’s move to freeze suspected funds of the CPP in the Netherlands and other countries.

"(We) don’t maintain any amount of money in US banks and elsewhere," Sison said.

Last weekend, Washington included the CPP-NPA on its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Kelley said the US government has no standing policy regarding Philippine initiatives to make peace with the CPP-NPA and its political arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF).

In a statement sent via E-mail to The STAR from the Netherlands yesterday, Sison said the CPP, the NDF, the NPA and the exiled communist leaders in the Netherlands do not have any account in any bank abroad.

Sison said the communist rebel movement is "self-sufficient" in funds, which come from donations of people in rural areas and "well-off" CPP cadres.

"Besides, the NPA also imposes a revolutionary taxation scheme on businesses located within and adjacent to guerrilla zones, such as bus firms, poultry and piggery farms, and the like," the statement said.

NPA firearms come mainly from the military and the police through "agaw-armas" or the snatching of arms from soldiers and policemen during raids on miltary detachments and police stations, Sison added.

Back home, Bayan Muna sectoral Rep. Satur Ocampo asked President Arroyo yesterday to freeze the budget of the Armed Forces and allocate the money for the "direct benefit" of the people.

"The proposal to increase the defense budget and recruit more CAFGUS will only sow more terror among civilians and increase violations where the CAFGUS will be deployed," the leftist lawmaker said.

Since the Arroyo administration has failed to deliver vital social services to people in the countryside, the budget of the Armed Forces should be given a second look, he added.

Ocampo said the government’s approach to resolve the conflict with the NPA is based on "flawed logic" that its strength is derived from foreign funds and arms.

"Government’s logic is that they can defeat the NPA by freezing its alleged foreign funds, while increasing the military’s budget for its own counter-insurgency campaign," he said.

Meanwhile, the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) asked Mrs. Arroyo yesterday what their status would be, now that the government has excluded from its list of terrorists communist organizations that are not engaged in armed struggle.

"Once and for all, could Mrs. Arroyo clarify what her government’s stand is on our group?" asked Bayan secretary general Teodoro Casiño.

"Does she consider Bayan and Bayan Muna a terrorist group as well? If not, then she better shut up and order the AFP and PNP to stop killing and harrassing our members. We don’t care about not being in Mrs. Arroyo’s list of friendly communists. The problem is that her statements are being taken by the AFP and PNP as a license to kill and harass our leaders, making them targets of her government’s brutal anti-insurgency, now anti-terrorist campaign," he said.

Casiño said since last year, 39 leaders and members of Bayan and Bayan Muna have been killed and the perpetrators are believed to be soldiers or policemen.

"As it is, her latest statements are death warrants for our leaders," he said. "All the victims have been tagged by the military as sympathizers of the New People’s Army."

Casiño said the statement of Mrs. Arroyo is "no trivial thing" because it could mean death or torture for many people.

"It is quick for Gloria to forget," he said. "Back then (when President Joseph Estrada was being ousted), she was very friendly with us and did not accuse us of being communists."

"Now that we are criticizing her for her anti-people policies," he added, "she forgets who we are and what we stand for. She’s starting to think like Marcos."

In a statement yesterday, the NDF branded as "extreme arrogance and utter ignorance" the US action tagging the CPP and its exiled leaders as foreign terrorists.

"US Secretary of State Colin Powell, in designating the CPP/NPA as a foreign terrorist organization, shows his extreme arrogance and utter ignorance," read the statement.

The NDF said Powell’s "irresponsible acts seriously jeopardize" peace talks between the government and the communist rebels.

A Dutch Embassy official said Monday it was too soon to comment on whether the US action would affect Sison’s status in the Netherlands.

In 1997, the Dutch high court ruled that Sison could not be sent back to the Philippines but that he had to seek refuge in a different country.

At the Department of Labor and Employment in Manila, about 30 workers belonging to the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) picketed under the rain yesterday to dramatize their disgust over the US government’s branding of the CPP as a terrorist group.

Joel Maglunsod, KMU secretary general for federation affairs, said the US action could further worsen the alarming cases of trade union violations in the country. "This is very alarming as this could spawn greater human rights violations all over the country," he said. "As we know, the government and the military always fail to make clear distinction between legal, progressive mass organizations like KMU and revolutionary organizations waging armed resistance in the countryside."

Maglunsod said between January last year and last June about 8,000 workers were attacked at picket lines, and harassed, arrested and detained.

"It is extremely unjust and offensive that when workers collectively assert their economic and democratic demands, the government promptly inflicts abusive state of terrorism against them," he said.

With the US government declaring the CPP a terrorist group and Mrs. Arroyo moving to identify trade unions as possible communist organizations, the abuses against organized labor could worsen, Maglunsod added.

Meanwhile, the militant Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas asked Mrs. Arroyo yesterday to dissuade the Dutch government from complying with the US request to freeze the CPP’s assets in the Netherlands.

"The imposition of the US government on the Dutch government to freeze alleged CPP accounts and deportation of exiled CPP leaders is a direct intervention on domestic and foreign affairs of The Netherlands," read the statement.

"We ask the people of this country to oppose the US bullying campaign against groups critical or going up against US geopolitical plans." — With reports from Aurea Calica, Sandy Araneta, Romel Bagares, Mayen Jaymalin