Ople: CPP, NPA deserve ‘terrorist’ tag

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople struck back yesterday at communist rebels who said he was not worthy to be put on their hit list.

Ople, who was described by the New People’s Army (NPA) as self-important, said the communist rebels deserved to be tagged as terrorists because they have committed acts of terrorism.

"They have been defined by their actions," he said. "It is still my hope that it is also something that they can disown so that the search for meaningful peace can continue."

Reports said Ople and President Arroyo’s chief of staff Rigoberto Tiglao were among the next targets of the rebels after last week’s assassination of former NPA chieftain Romulo Kintanar. But the NPA denied that Ople and Tiglao were up for liquidation.

Ople said he will inform the foreign ministers of the European Union about the activities of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA when he meets with them in Brussels, Belgium today.

"There has been no fundamental change in circumstances since I was last in Europe with regard to (the tagging of communist leader) Jose Ma. Sison and the NPA as terrorists," he said.

"If anything, Sison continues to direct the terrorist activities of the NPA. His activities must first stop if our peace talks with the National Democratic Front is to have any hope," Ople said.

The CPP-NPA have earned the terrorist label pinned on them by the United States and the European Union, Ople added.

Last Sunday, the NPA admitted killing its former supremo Kintanar, who was shot to death while having lunch in a Japanese restaurant in Quezon City last week.

Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal, NPA spokesman, said a special hit squad carried out the assassination because of Kintanar’s "numeorus accountabilities" to the rebel movement and the people.

In Tarlac, Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, Armed Forces vice chief of staff and Northern Luzon Command chief, said the breakaway communist rebel faction in Northern Luzon is also targeting former comrades who have turned their backs on the movement and become government spies.

Garcia said a 26-year-old former rebel, Randy Orvilla was wounded in the right arm after suspected Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB) guerrillas tried to kill him in Barangay Barlo in Mabini, Pangasinan last Monday.

Orvilla is now undergoing treatment at the Pangasinan General Hospital in Alaminos City, he added.

Garcia said military intelligence identified the hit men as Herminio Manzano alias Ka Freddie, and one Ka Joy, who are believed to be partisans of the armed wing of the Marxist-Lennist Party of the Philippines (MLPP).

The MLPP was set up in the 1990s by expelled members of the CPP Central Luzon Regional Party Committee. — With Benjie Villa