Manila and Communist Guerrillas Agree to a 60-Day Cease-Fire to Begin Dec. 10

The Philippine government and the leaders of the nation’s Communist rebels agreed late Wednesday to a 60-day cease-fire in the fighting that has raged for 17 years and claimed thousands of lives. The historic agreement was signed today and will take effect Dec. 10.

The signing ceremony was held in Kalayaan Hall at the same posh suburban country club where President Corazon Aquino took her oath of office at the climax of the February rebellion that drove Ferdinand E. Marcos into exile. The cease-fire agreement includes safety and immunity guarantees for Communist negotiators and establishes a preliminary cease-fire.

Aquino selected today for signing the truce because it is the birthday of her slain husband, Benigno S. Aquino Jr., a longtime opponent of Marcos.

The 60-day period is a compromise between the government, which proposed a 30-day halt in the hostilities, and the demand of the Communist New People’s Army for a 100-day cease-fire. The truce can be extended.

2,000 Dead in 9 Months

The conflict has killed more than 2,000 soldiers, guerrillas and civilians since Aquino assumed office nine months ago.

“Both sides won the war,” said government negotiator Ramon Mitra, Aquino’s minister of agriculture, after the last in a grueling series of negotiating sessions that began five months ago. “It’s over. We have come to an agreement. We gain a new phase in the life of our country.”

At the same time, rebel negotiator Saturnino Ocampo announced at a press conference that he and fellow former newsman Antonio Zumel signed the cease-fire document today on behalf of the entire leadership of the outlawed Communist Party and all 23,200 guerrilla fighters in the New People’s Army.

The date for the signing, he added, is an equally important symbol for the rebels, who recognize the late Benigno Aquino “as a martyr in the struggle for democracy.”

The agreement will bring Christmas peace for the first time in decades in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation. Its starting date, Dec. 10, is international human-rights day.

Mitra and Ocampo said the cease-fire documents are intended to provide for continuing negotiations aimed at a political solution to the conflict that has radically polarized Philippine society.

Ocampo said the issues to be discussed would include human rights, land reform, income distribution and the presence of U.S. bases on Philippine soil. In a recent press conference, Mitra said the negotiations would focus on the “causes of alienation and dissent” among the rebels and their tens of thousands of civilian supporters.

Regional cease-fire committees will be set up to monitor and investigate alleged violations of the agreement, which defines hostile acts as any killing or act of combat. The agreement will not, however, put an end to the rebels’ so-called “taxation” of businessmen and farmers, the acquisition of arms by either side or the propaganda campaigns being waged in the Philippine countryside.

The cease-fire agreement nonetheless is widely seen as a crucial victory for President Aquino, who insisted on pursuing what she called “the path of peace” to end the conflict in the face of strident criticism from her now-ousted defense minister, Juan Ponce Enrile.

Aquino fired Enrile last Sunday after several turbulent months in which Enrile, who led the military revolt that helped bring Aquino to power, criticized her cease-fire talks as “negotiations for war.” Enrile had said Aquino was seeking a cease-fire only as a political symbol and that she had no concrete proposal to end the insurgency once a cease-fire is signed.

In what most Filipinos viewed as Aquino’s first truly decisive moves as president, Aquino announced Enrile’s resignation and simultaneously set a one-week deadline for the Communists to agree to a temporary halt in the hostilities. The deadline was due to expire Sunday.

Many analysts expressed concern that the cease-fire will be more symbolic than substantive. Many remain skeptical that the truce will hold--especially after the Christmas season ends Jan. 6.

Both Sides Suspicious

Military strategists are concerned that, whether or not Ocampo and Zumel actually represent the entire insurgent force, the guerrillas could easily violate the pact and then blame it on poor communications or renegade rebel bands.

Similarly, Ocampo said in an interview last week that the military, too, has dozens of civilian “death squads” that work as clients of the military. Such groups, he said, could attack a guerrilla unit or civilian village during the cease-fire, and the military could blame it on the rebels.

“We’re holding on to our guns,” Ocampo told reporters Wednesday.

The articulate rebel leader added, however, that he is more confident than ever that the military will comply with the cease-fire terms, because, in the wake of Enrile’s firing, “I think her (Aquino’s) hold on the armed forces has increased tremendously.”

In fact, the agreement came Tuesday night after a series of lengthy meetings between Mitra and top military leaders, among them Enrile’s replacement, Defense Minister Rafael Ileto. The 66-year-old career soldier and diplomat had told reporters Monday that the overwhelming majority of the armed forces are now willing to abide by a temporary cease-fire.

The military, he said, can use the time to influence villagers in rebel-controlled areas by building roads and bridges and providing seed and fertilizer. The break from battle will also give the armed forces time to reunite after a turbulent nine months in which rumors of planned military coups against Aquino’s government surfaced almost weekly and polarized the military.

“Why not?” Ileto said. “Let us try to give peace a chance.”