Government tells Reds to prove sincerity before peace talks

Communist rebels must stop attacks on "economic targets" to prove their sincerity in calling for resumption of stalled peace talks, the military said yesterday.

"Their actions speak louder than their words," Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Eduardo Purificacion said in a statement.

"If it is real peace they are after, one very good confidence-building measure they can show to prove their sincerity... is to declare a stop to all the armed attacks on civilian targets such as telecommunications sites and public transport facilities."

However, self-exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison said the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) will not talk peace with the Arroyo administration.

Speaking from Utrecht, the Netherlands, Sison said the "arrogance and intransigence" of President Arroyo and the "militarists around her" are to blame why peace talks to end the 34-year communist insurgency have remained stalled for more than a year now.

"The resumption of (Government of the Republic of the Philippines-National Democratic Front) peace negotiations has become uncertain," he said.

Sison said Mrs. Arroyo’s advisers who are against resumption of peace negotiations are under the "tutelage" of the United States government, which has tagged the CPP and New People’s Army (NPA) as terrorist organizations.

Sison said the communist rebel movement is not interested in the "government of national unity" proposed by Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

Sison said the so-called council of state that would be formed to oversee the establishment of the "government of national unity" is "no different" from the old national security council.

"It is an exclusive club of exploiters and oppressors," he said. "It is composed of a queen and her men-in-black in the Cabinet oversight committee on internal security."

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez and other close aides of Mrs. Arroyo appear to be lukewarm to proposals to include communist rebels in the "government of national unity."

Communist rebels have rejected the Arroyo administration’s efforts to pursue the so-called "back-channel talks" and instead demanded that "formal" peace negotiations be resumed.

Mrs. Arroyo suspended peace negotiations with the CPP in mid-2001 after NPA hit men killed Cagayan Rep. Rodolfo Aguinaldo and Quezon Rep. Marcial Punzalan.

The NPA stepped up attacks on isolated military and police outposts as well as far-flung telecommunications and power facilities following the suspension of peace talks. – Benjie Villa, AFP