Aquino Frees Rebel Leader’s Wife and Driver

President Corazon Aquino on Tuesday ordered the wife and driver of a jailed Communist guerrilla leader released from prison as “a gesture” aimed at bringing the leaders of the Philippines’ Communist rebellion back to the negotiating table for a possible cease-fire.

Rudolfo Salas’ arrest last month by the military had threatened to further polarize the civilian and military elements within Aquino’s government.

Aquino, who has vowed repeatedly to “exhaust all peaceful approaches” to end the Communist insurgency before she turns the military loose, averted a potential backlash within the military by backing its decision to arrest Salas. However, her stance was sharply criticized by attorneys for the Communist rebels, who have been negotiating with the government on a cease-fire for three months.

On Tuesday she offered a compromise under which Salas, identified by the military as the mastermind of the Communist Party’s military wing, will remain in prison without bail in exchange for the release of his wife and his driver.

A few hours later, Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile said that neither the release of the prisoners nor the continued detention of Salas will have an effect on the growing insurgency.

Addressing a meeting of dentists, Enrile said the rebellion may become so serious in the next few years that the Philippines may have to call in foreign assistance.

Without naming the United States--with which this country has a defense treaty that would permit U.S. military intervention at Manila’s request--he said of the Communist insurgency: “If it increases to the point where our own national resources are not enough, . . . we will have to look to our friends outside our national domain for assistance.”

Enrile has become increasingly estranged from the government of Aquino, who gained office through a church-backed military coup that Enrile led last February.