Aquino Negotiator Says Reports of Truce Violations Were Wrong

MANILA — President Corazon Aquino’s chief cease-fire negotiator admitted today that some military accounts of alleged Communist guerrilla violations of a week-old truce were wrong.

The statement came a day after the Communist-led National Democratic Front accused the military of issuing “unsubstantiated reports” of violations to discredit the rebels.

“The military corrects their own reports . . . which is an indication of good faith,” Aquino’s truce negotiator, Teofisto Guingona, told a symposium on the 60-day cease-fire with the 23,000-member New People’s Army.

Guingona referred to a report of an attack Monday by 100 Communists on an army outpost. The attack was initially believed to be the first violation of the truce. But Guingona said a subsequent report reduced the number of attackers to 30 and described them as “bandit” members of the New People’s Army, casting doubt on their membership in the guerrilla army.

A witness today disputed the official account of the death of an 8-year-old girl killed in cross-fire in a central Negros Island town Wednesday when 30 “Communist terrorists” ambushed a bus carrying soldiers. (Story, Page 7.)

The slain girl’s mother, Teresita Mabayag, told reporters that the soldiers stepped off the bus and opened fire on six New People’s Army rebels who had stopped at Mabayag’s house for water. She emphasized that the attack was unprovoked and that the soldiers fired first.