Aquino Questions Use of Irregular Forces

President Corazon Aquino, on a visit Friday to the troubled southern island of Mindanao, called on the armed forces high command to justify its use of paramilitary troops in the struggle against Communist-led insurgents.

In a daylong visit to Davao City, the Philippines’ third-largest city, Aquino heard a wide range of citizens groups declare that the insurgency, crime and incidents of military repression were the major deterrents to economic recovery in Mindanao. The paramilitary Civilian Home Defense Forces have long been accused of using abusive tactics in the region, particularly under President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

“I call on Gen. (Fidel V.) Ramos to justify the need for the CHDF,” Aquino said in a speech at a community forum.

Human Rights Abuses

Ramos, the armed forces chief of staff, has agreed that the paramilitary units have been guilty of human rights abuses but has defended their retention to provide needed security in some rural areas. The paramilitary units generally are recruited at the local level and provided arms by the military to protect their communities against insurgents. Many, however, have been little more than goons for local politicians.

Ramos, who attended the forum along with nearly half of Aquino’s Cabinet, made no immediate response to the president.

On other military matters of concern in Mindanao, Aquino:

--Said she would meet with Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile to discuss the possibility of regional cease-fires with the insurgents, rather than wait for a nationwide agreement with the top leadership of the Communist Party.

--Met with 168 insurgents who tentatively agreed to give up the fight in return for a promise of possible jobs and land and a pledge of safety from the armed forces. The president said she would consider government approval of the surrender program, implemented here through the Roman Catholic Church, but not on a cash-for-guns basis. “I shall consider an arms exchange program,” she said. In return for their surrender and their guns, the former insurgents would receive training and possibly a piece of land, she indicated.

No Formal Outline

Aquino has supported a cease-fire with the insurgents since she took power three months ago but has not formally outlined a program. She said Friday that when she makes the offer she will call for a cease-fire “in place,” with the military in position to defend cities and towns from guerrilla attack if the truce is broken.

There will be no order for soldiers to return to their barracks, she told a meeting of civic groups at the Central Bank building in this city of nearly 800,000. “I shall assume the insurgent leaders exercise complete control of their men in the field,” she said, emphasizing that any rebel attack interrupting the truce would lead her to order a full scale military reprisal.

Aquino has delayed laying out a detailed cease-fire plan while awaiting a direct response from the Communist Party leadership to her proposal, first voiced in the presidential campaign against Marcos, for a truce in the 17-year-long insurgency. The uprising has been strongest on this big southern island and particularly bloody in the Davao City. “I am still waiting,” she said here.

Won’t Let Up

Defense Minister Enrile said earlier in the week that the military would not let up on the insurgents until a truce is implemented. “Until such a time as a cease-fire is in place,” he said, “everything is fair and square in war.”

Chief of Staff Ramos was quoted as saying that the military would accept no local or regional cease-fires, that the armed forces wanted a nationwide truce. Aquino’s declaration that she would raise the issue of regional truces with Enrile evidently ran counter to Ramos’ position.

Brig. Gen. R. B. Gutang, a top commander in Mindanao, told a reporter here that he had established a so-far durable cease-fire with a Muslim guerrilla leader on April 9 and supported a policy of regional truces. Gutang produced a letter he received from the Muslim commander on Friday saying that he was “dismayed and startled” by Ramos’ position.

Gutang said he intends to discuss the situation with the chief of staff although Ramos appeared to be discussing solely the Communist insurgency and not the Muslim guerrilla movement, which seeks the secession of the Muslim-dominated provinces of Mindanao.

Wants Rifles Back

Gutang said the military also expected to move soon against Ali Dimaporo, a Mindanao Muslim leader and Marcos ally, if Dimaporo did not return nearly 2,000 rifles issued to his men by the Marcos government. Aquino said she expects the military to disarm the private armies of regional “warlords” who played important political roles in past elections.