February 22, 2003, The Philippine Star, Philippine: Communists must resume talks before terror tag reviewed,

February 22, 2003, The Philippine Star, Philippine: Communists must resume talks before terror tag reviewed,

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said yesterday communist rebels must resume peace talks before the government reviews their removal from a list of international terrorists.

"This interdiction by the international community will not be reviewed unless the (National Democratic Front) shows good faith in the (peace) negotiations and returns to the peace talks, and there is substantial progress made in the negotiations," he said.

Ople said only under these conditions would the government rethink the terrorist tag on exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and the New People's Army (NPA).

"There is a stalemate and the (communist rebels) don't want to negotiate, the onus will be on them," he said.

Sison, CPP and the NPA deserve the "terrorist" tag because communist rebels killed numerous individuals while peace talks were going on, and that they had extorted so-called "revolutionary taxes" from the people, Ople added.

Upon the government's representations, the United States, European Union, Australia, and Canada have declared as "terrorists" Sison, the CPP and the NPA.

But, in Utrecht, Sison refuted the government's claims and said the communists want to resume peace talks.

"The (NDF) wants to resume the peace negotiations with the government of the Philippines," Sison said in a statement.

According to Sison, the government demanded that the communists "bow to the so-called peace agreement one-sidedly prepared by the (government) and surrender to the (government) in six months' time or face joint combat operations from the US and (Manila)".

The communists charge that it was Manila that abruptly broke off talks.

"The scheme of the US and puppet regime (in Manila) is to insult and provoke the NDFP [National Democratic Front of the Philippines] with the demand for surrender and misrepresent the refusal to surrender as a refusal to engage in peace negotiations in order to justify an all-out war and pave the way for the joint US-(Manila) military campaigns against the revolutionary forces," Sison said.

Latest clashes

In Agusan del Sur, government troops killed an undetermined number of NPA rebels after a 30-minute firefight Thursday night [20 February]. No casualty was reported on the government side...

In Masbate City, NPA guerrillas killed a barangay chairman and wounded a militiaman Thursday after attacking a civic centre in Barangay Bayombon.

Masbate police commander Superintendent Romeo Mapalo said the rebels had earlier shot dead a civilian, who was identified as Gerardo Danao, 34.

Forty minutes later, another group of NPA guerrillas raided a police outpost under Senior Police Officer 1 Emilio Almosara Deano, which was guarding the civic centre, he added.

During the five-minute firefight, the rebels wounded Roldan Montes, a member of the Civilian Volunteers Organization.

The rebels fled towards Masbate's boundary with Baleno and Aroroy towns.