Ready for War on Rebels--Aquino : Talks With Communists at Impasse, Philippines Leader Reportedly Told

Philippine President Corazon Aquino declared Sunday that she is “ready to lead the war” against the nation’s Communist insurgency as her government prepared to abandon efforts to negotiate a nationwide cease-fire with leaders of the 17-year rebellion.

A Cabinet source who asked not to be named said the government’s two chief negotiators told the president that their four months of peace talks with the rebels were at a hopeless impasse, and they advised that the time has come for Aquino to pick up what she has called “the sword of war.”

At the same time, military commanders said the Philippine armed forces have launched several all-out regional offensives in the last week aimed at strengthening the government’s position against the 23,000 armed insurgents--either as a prelude to a cease-fire or as a contingency in case the peace talks fail.

Urged to Unleash Army

Speaking at a world peace rally Sunday morning, Aquino said she still hopes that her negotiators can find a political solution to the conflict, but her expression of readiness to go to war came as those negotiators began urging her to give up her national peace effort. They recommended instead that she pursue regional cease-fires with the Communists, while simultaneously turning loose her 200,000-man military in selected provinces where the insurgency has made its greatest gains.

The recommendation came after the rebels’ political front group canceled a scheduled negotiating session with the government Friday. The National Democratic Front said the cancellation was triggered by last week’s gangland-style slaying of powerful leftist labor leader Rolando Olalia, whose union has been labeled a Communist front by military leaders.

On Saturday, tension throughout Manila deepened after the regional director of one of Japan’s biggest trading companies was kidnaped by five armed men while driving home from a round of golf at a suburban country club.

The government released no details on the kidnaping of the Japanese businessman, Nobuyuki Wakaoji, 53, of Mitsui and Co., which was widely viewed as a personal embarrassment for Aquino, who had returned just 48 hours earlier from an important four-day state visit to Japan. Aquino had assured the Japanese that her government is stable and urged them to provide foreign aid and investment to help the Philippines out of its worst economic crisis since World War II.

The murder, the kidnaping and the ensuing insecurity in the capital have polarized the political forces of left and right in Aquino’s coalition government and presented her with what analysts here call potentially the most explosive crisis she has faced since assuming office last February.

Nationwide Strike Today

With a nationwide strike scheduled for today aimed at paralyzing the nation for 24 hours, several thousand laborers, students and peasants again took to the streets of Manila on Sunday, protesting Olalia’s murder and demanding the resignation of Aquino’s hard-line defense minister, Juan Ponce Enrile, whom many leftist leaders have blamed for the killing.

At Olalia’s wake Friday night, rebel negotiator Satur Ocampo told reporters that the Communist leadership is still willing to continue the national cease-fire negotiations, and he cautioned Aquino “not to fall into the trap” of right-wing elements in her government who are trying to “scuttle the cease-fire talks.”

Defense Minister Enrile has been openly critical of Aquino’s “path of peace” approach to solving the insurgency, a policy she has said is needed to give her “the moral basis” to continue the war. Enrile has called the peace talks “negotiations for war.”

Now, the government peace negotiators, Agriculture Minister Ramon Mitra and government audit director Teofisto Guingona, are exhausted and frustrated by the negotiating sessions, sources close to the two men say. They must attend the sessions without personal security and at secret locations chosen by the rebels and secured by armed insurgents, the sources say.

Mitra and Guingona, both longtime advocates of peace, are becoming convinced that the rebels are merely trying to manipulate the government through the talks, the sources said.

Aquino herself resurrected the cease-fire talks after a similar impasse last month. In a speech to a sorority, Aquino warned the rebels at that time that she would announce a deadline for a cease-fire and added that if the rebels failed to meet it, she would “soon issue a declaration of war.”

A few days later, the rebels called a press conference and proposed a 100-day cease-fire that would begin Dec. 10. Aquino earlier had recommended a 30-day cease-fire, which is preferred by her military advisers, and the latest round of negotiations were an effort to agree on a compromise, as well as define “hostile acts” that would constitute cease-fire violations during that period.

While Aquino continued her appeal for peace Sunday, the tone of her speech was not as optimistic as in the past.

Calls Timing Ironic

Speaking at a rally for world peace sponsored by the United Nations at an outdoor Manila grandstand, Aquino told 5,000 of her supporters that the timing of the rally was ironic, given “the events of the past few days.”

“Right here in our own land, the killing goes on,” the president told the crowd, many carrying banners that declared, “Yes for Cory; Yes for Peace” and “Give Peace a Chance.”

“I hope that after this event, we will be able to redouble our efforts” for peace, she said. “I have prayed that peace will come if only those who believe in peace will band together.”

Aquino added, however, “I am ready to lead the war, if need be.”

When the president finished, a U.N. delegation presented her with a blazing, three-foot “torch of peace” that is currently touring 45 countries throughout the world. Aquino used the torch to light 12 large yellow candles--one for each of the nation’s rural regions, where the insurgency has left more than 2,000 Filipinos dead just since Aquino took office eight months ago.