Seek public office, Palace tells Reds

Malacañang challenged yesterday communist guerrilla leaders to achieve political power in the country through peaceful means, particularly by running for public office.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye threw this challenge to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), its armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA), and its political arm the National Democratic Front in response to statements made by NDF chief Luis Jalandoni proposing power sharing in a coalition government as part of a final peace agreement.

But a day after he was quoted stating this proposal before a forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) last Friday, Jalandoni denied initiating it and clarified that he was merely responding to a query from one of the reporters.

Jalandoni had rejected Friday suggestions that his group’s decades-old rebellion was a lost cause, but said it would settle for a coalition government with President Arroyo.

"We don’t think we can achieve it (seize power) in the near future," he told a FOCAP forum.

He also dismissed suggestions that the 35-year rebellion, Southeast Asia’s last remaining leftist insurgency, had failed.

"We would take exception to it," Jalandoni said.

Bunye, who concurrently sits as press secretary, urged the communist guerrilla leaders to try their luck and run for elective posts, where they could join the government to help bring about better lives for Filipinos.

"If the other side wants to become part of our system, they must join our constitutional and electoral system," he said in an interview over Radio Mindanao Network yesterday.

Precedents have been set by other left-leaning leaders who won elective posts as party-list representatives in Congress, such as Satur Ocampo and Nathaniel Santiago of Bayan Muna, Etta Rosales of Akbayan, and Crispin Beltran of the Kilusang Mayo Uno.

Bunye reaffirmed Malacañang’s rejection of the proposed coalition government’s inclusion in the agenda for the next round of formal peace talks with the communist leaders.

"Our Constitution subjects political power to the sovereign will of the people expressed through elections. There cannot be a negotiated coalition or power sharing within our democratic system," he said.

Bunye also reiterated President Arroyo’s policy of walking "the extra mile" to attain lasting peace in the country through ongoing negotiations with the communist group.

"We welcome a coalition with any party in accord with our constitutional and democratic processes and based on a principled agreement on a common agenda for the national interest," he said.

The communists backed out of scheduled talks in Norway next week after the United States renewed its "terrorist" designation of their lead organization, the CPP, and the NPA, which reportedly has 8,600 members.

Jalandoni said talks would only resume after the government pressured Washington to drop the terror label and implemented policy reforms.

The rebels want the government to set aside in escrow $150 million from the recovered assets of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to compensate human rights victims of his 20-year regime, including many communist leaders.

Jalandoni conceded a settlement would fall short of his group’s ideal of a Maoist revolution and could at best leave them as junior partners in a system similar to a European-style welfare state.

"The revolutionary movement could have a say in a kind of shared mechanism," he said, but stressed his group would not settle for "one or two cabinet positions" that he said had been offered to them in the past.

In a related development, a left-leaning website reported that communist guerrillas operating in the Bicol Region have not dropped the charges of "war crimes and crimes against humanity" against former hostage Army 1Lt. Ronaldo Fidelino.

Quoting "Ka Russel," a rebel who led the "custodial force" that held Fidelino and Pfc. Ronnel Nemeño captive for nearly six months, bulatlat.com said the communists decided to defer Fidelino’s trial before their "people’s court" and released the two soldiers on "humanitarian grounds."

"The charges against Fidelino remain in effect and the Army officer will certainly face trial if caught again in active duty," the website said.

Fidelino and Nemeño were freed last Aug. 18 after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) complied with the rebels’ demand for a suspension of military operations in Camarines Sur and Albay.

The website said that in a "written indictment" issued by the NPA’s Bicol regional operation command, Fidelino and his team, the Charlie Company of the Army’s 42nd Infantry Battalion, have been accused of "robbery, indiscriminate firing, threats and harassment" during a military operation last Feb. 4.

In the same incident, Fidelino’s team was also accused of committing "acts of child abuse, and physical and psychological torture" against a 12-year-old boy, as well as "sexual abuse and harassment" against two women, "one of them a nursing mother."The rebels also said Fidelino was involved in the killing of three villagers in the town of Balatan, Camarines Sur on July 29 last year.

The website said Fidelino denied the charges, but that he made a "five-page handwritten defense statement" before the NPA last June 20 wherein he reportedly apologized.

Fidelino, according to the website, now wants to return to his mother unit in Bicol to settle some scores with his former captors.

Bulatlat.com said the NPA’s indictment was forwarded to the government through AFP chief Gen. Narciso Abaya. It was signed by Fidelino and two alleged rebel leaders — Ramona Caceres of the NPA- Romulo Jallores Command and Theresa Magtanggol of the NPA-Nerissa San Juan Command.

Meanwhile, a suspected communist insurgent hit-squad gunned down a policeman in the southern Philippines early yesterday, days after the rebels suspended peace talks with the government.

Policeman Ricardo Palamine, 36, was shot dead as he was walking home from work, said Salay town police chief Inspector Medardo Talja.

Witnesses said the killing was carried out by three gunmen, Talja said. — Marichu Villanueva, Benjie Villa, AFP