Communists in Aquino’s Government, Enrile Charges

Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile charged Monday that top Communist Party leaders have infiltrated the government of President Corazon Aquino, occupying positions of power at the “bureaucratic level.”

Enrile declined to name the alleged Communist leaders, but he did detail their positions, which he said include appointed posts ranging from executive assistants in “several ministries” of government to the head of a presidential task force on housing cooperatives.

Citing military intelligence reports prepared by Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, the armed forces chief of staff, Enrile said that two of the infiltrators are members of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, the highest-ranking political body coordinating the outlawed party and its estimated 17,500 armed insurgents.

Enrile and Ramos, who have taken up the role of spokesmen for the nation’s anti-Communist hard-liners in the six months since they led the coup that drove then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos into exile, have been warning Aquino publicly in recent months that Communist insurgents may try to destroy her government from within.

No Aquino Reaction

There was no immediate reaction Monday from Aquino’s office to the infiltration charges.

The accusations, which both Enrile and Ramos made in statements to reporters Monday afternoon, were their most specific and strongest allegations yet, and they appeared timed to coincide with the beginning of cease-fire talks between representatives of Aquino’s government and two Communist Party leaders. The talks are expected to begin in earnest this week.

Enrile has said that it would take “a miracle” for the talks to succeed, and Ramos has declared that he expects the insurgency to continue until the nation’s economy and political stability improve. Both military leaders have strongly urged the president to approach the talks with skepticism.

Enrile’s concerns were underscored Monday by disclosure of more clashes between government forces and Communist insurgents that left 21 people dead. And there were complaints by the two Communist leaders over conditions for talks with the government.

The Philippine News Agency said five guerrillas were killed when troops raided a camp of the Communist New People’s Army near Madalag in central Aklan province on Friday. Another 13 rebels and three militiamen were killed earlier in the week in separate clashes on Mindanao Island, the agency said.

Rebel negotiators Satur Ocampo and Antonio Zumel turned down a government proposal that they should not carry arms to the peace talks, Philippine television reported.

They also said that assurances of 30 days’ safe conduct are not enough. The two met Agriculture Minister Ramon Mitra last week to prepare for the talks and said the objections will have to be resolved before the discussion can get under way, the TV report said.

No Action Planned

Enrile and Ramos both said they plan no action against the party members they reported are in the Aquino government.

Officially, Aquino has vowed she will never appoint a Communist to a position of power in her government, and she has ruled out the notion of any government coalition with the Communist Party, whose 17-year armed rebellion in the countryside has intensified in recent years.

Several of Aquino’s Cabinet ministers, though, have hired former political detainees and leftist opponents of the Marcos regime in key posts. It was not clear whether Enrile was referring to those former detainees.

Enrile’s charge was consistent with his recent speeches and press statements, in which he has intensified his anti-Communist rhetoric. The defense minister has charged that the insurgent forces have infiltrated many of the nation’s labor unions, human rights groups and some local governments.

The defense minister stopped short Monday of charging that Aquino’s Cabinet contains Communist Party members, an allegation frequently made by many senior military officers serving under Enrile and Ramos.

“I will not answer that,” Enrile told a Filipino journalist who asked him whether the intelligence reports listed Cabinet ministers as party members. “Do not put me in an awkward position. . . . The level of the people involved (infiltrators) is in the bureaucracy.”