February 3, 2002, Philippine Star, Communist militants deny firing at US plane, attacking two tourists,

February 3, 2002, Philippine Star, Communist militants deny firing at US plane, attacking two tourists,

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denied yesterday [2 February] that New People's Army (NPA) rebels fired at a US Air Force cargo plane taking part in the ongoing "Balikatan 2002" military exercises.

"Our comrades will not do that. First of all, we are not really sure that such a plane had been shot at," CPP spokesman Gregorio "Ka [Comrade] Roger" Rosal said in an interview with Radio Mindanao Network.

Rosal hinted that Thursday's shooting incident may be part of a ploy to justify US involvement in combat operations against communist insurgents after US troops were allowed to assist in operations against the Abu Sayyaf Islamist group in Mindanao. US military officials denied this.

Rosal said the exercise against the Abu Sayyaf, which is holding two Americans and a Filipino hostage on Basilan island, signals the start of US intervention in domestic conflicts. "The (CPP) is determined to frustrate this and is willing to lead the people to fight the armed intervention of the US in all forms and arenas," Rosal said.

Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Angelo Reyes said investigators have started looking into the shooting of the US special operations cargo plane involved in the "Balance Piston" manoeuvres being held at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija. The MC-130 aircraft sustained at least two bullet holes in its belly, probably from an Armalite rifle, while flying over the Cordillera mountains, but returned safely to Clark Field in Pampanga.

"We are still trying to determine the perpetrators of this shooting incident, and of course, we have the New People's Army or criminal elements that are the natural suspects for this," Reyes said.

He allayed fears that the shooting, which narrowly missed a crew member of the transport plane, would derail the war games. Reyes dismissed the incident as "part of the exercise plan", adding the Philippine government has no liability for any misfortune that may happen to the US troops during the war games.

He gave assurances, however, that additional security measures have been set in place by Philippine military officials as a result of the shooting incident.

At the same time, Rosal denied that communist rebels attacked two foreign tourists hiking on Mt. Pinatubo last Wednesday [30 January]. American Brian Smith was killed and German Sigfried Whitman was wounded after they were supposedly attacked by unidentified gunmen. "We are not anti-American. We are anti-imperialists," he said. "We will never attack civilians. What benefit will we get out of attacking civilians?"

He also denied reports that the rebels issued a statement saying they will kidnap US troops participating in military exercises in the Philippines. "What we are saying is we will resist US intervention in urban and rural areas," he said. "If there is direct intervention, we will fight them but we will not take these actions that are being blamed on us to justify US intervention in the Philippines."...