Philippine Cabinet Upset Over Pace of Talks With Rebels
MANILA — Philippine Cabinet ministers said Tuesday that they are growing impatient with the pace of talks aimed at settling a 17-year-old insurrection by Communist guerrillas.
Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, meanwhile, said the military is responding to intensified Communist rebel attacks with a “more aggressive posture,” the official Philippine News Agency reported.
“There’s a general feeling of impatience, if not frustration, over the present situation and in talks with the Communists,” said Natural Resources Minister Ernesto Maceda, who briefed reporters after the Cabinet meeting, which was presided over by Vice President Salvador Laurel.
Maceda said that Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, chief of the armed forces, told ministers that guerrillas have raided 12 military outposts in the last seven months.
The attacks are killing more soldiers now than they did under the administration of deposed President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Maceda and other ministers said.
The remarks appeared to reflect growing concern that peace feelers from the government of President Corazon Aquino to the rebels have bogged down on wrangling over procedures.
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