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ZAMBOANGA CITY: Communist rebels killed a government
militia and wounded three more in an attack Thursday in Mindanao,
officials said.
Officials said dozens of New
People’s Army (NPA) rebels detonated a landmine as the militias
pursued them in the village of Luna Sur in North Cotabato’s
Makilala town where gunmen raided and torched equipment of a banana
plantation owned by Dole Philippines.
“Troops from the Army’s 57th
Infantry Battalion are pursuing the rebels responsible for the
attacks,” Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the Sixth
Infantry Division, told The Manila Times.
The raid coincided with
government proposal to forge a cease-fire with the NPA and resume
stalled peace talks with rebels. The Philippine military chief
Alexander Yano also proposed an “indefinite cease-fire” with the
NPA to pave the way for the resumption of the negotiations.
But the Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP), which broke off peace talks with Manila in 2004,
rejected the proposal, saying, the Arroyo government reneged on its
previous deal with rebels.
“The Arroyo regime has reneged
on past agreements forged in the peace negotiations, including the
landmark Hague Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and
Immunity Guarantees, the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for
Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and compensation of
victims of human rights violations under the Marcos dictatorship,”
the CPP said in a statement.
“The ruling regime has shown no
interest at all in pursuing peace negotiations and has in fact been
stalling and sabotaging it since it assumed power,” it said.
“The CPP dismissed as worthless “sound bytes” the recent press
releases by Malacańang and the Armed Forces of the Philippines
calling for a long-term ceasefire by the New People’s Army.”
The NPA is fighting the past four
decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country.
Rebel leaders broke off peace talk with the Arroyo government in
2004 after accusing Manila of reneging on its commitments to free
all political prisoners and to put a stop to political killings,
among others
--Al Jacinto
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