Philippines’ Communist Chief Seized : Armed Forces’ Move Imperils Peace Talks, Rebel Negotiators Say

The military announced today the arrest of the alleged chairman of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, and rebel negotiators threatened to call off peace talks with the government unless he is released.

Attorneys of the National Democratic Front, political wing of the party, said reputed party leader Rodolfo Salas; his wife, Josefina Cruz, and his driver, Jose Concepcion, were arrested Monday night outside the downtown Philippine General Hospital.

Brig. Gen. Luis San Andres, armed forces spokesman, confirmed that elements of the Philippine national police made the arrests. He said Salas, 38, who carries a $12,500 price on his head, dead or alive, had a bandaged nose after surgery for sinus and goiter problems about a week ago.

A Defense Ministry statement quoted Armed Forces Chief Fidel Ramos as calling the arrest of Salas “a job well done, carried out with great dedication to duty under hazardous conditions over a period of four months.”

‘Imperils . . . Progress’

Attorneys Arno Sanidad and Romeo Capulong said the arrest of the three--witnessed by an NDF “backup man” and a doctor--”imperils the further progress of the (peace) talks” and demanded that President Corazon Aquino order their immediate release.

The lawyers said that the three had not been issued safe-conduct passes granted Communist negotiators Saturnino Ocampo and Antonio Zumel but that they were “directly and actively involved” in the talks, which indirectly made them immune from arrest.

Salas has been tagged “rightly or wrongly” as the party chairman, according to Capulong, who refused to confirm Salas’ position in the party. Agriculture Minister Ramon Mitra, the government’s principal representative in the talks, dismissed the front’s claims that Salas was entitled to immunity. Otherwise, “the entire New People’s Army is covered,” Mitra said.

The state news agency, quoting unnamed high military officials, described Salas’ arrest as one of the biggest achievements of the military since the November, 1977, arrest of Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

‘Last Ounce of Sympathy’

A ranking Defense Ministry official, who requested anonymity, said that if Aquino orders the release of Salas, the armed forces will comply. But he said that the arrest places Aquino in a dilemma and that ordering his release would “risk losing the last ounce of sympathy of the junior officers.”

Mitra said he is convening an urgent meeting of the three-member government panel involved in the talks to assess the implications of the arrests on the 2-month-old negotiations.

Salas, a father of three, is a chemical engineering graduate of the state-run University of the Philippines.

Known as Commander Bilog, he joined the underground movement as a student and was reportedly elected chairman of the party when Sison was arrested.