Aquino Meets Communists
President Corazon Aquino today met for the first time with Communist rebel leaders and proposed opening negotiations for a cease-fire on the island of Panay.
The meeting was part of the government’s effort to end the 17-year-old nationwide insurgency by the Communist New People’s Army. Roman Catholic Archbishop Alberto Piamonte of Iloilo arranged the meeting at the government’s request.
The Communist leaders Mrs. Aquino met were Concha Bocala, the island’s chief Communist political officer, and Jose Torre, a Roman Catholic priest and representative of the National Democratic Front, a Communist-led umbrella organization.
The two sides issued a joint statement saying the Communist leaders are “open to the idea of a cease-fire” on the central Philippine island of Panay, 200 miles southeast of Manila.
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