Aquino Rejects Leftist Rebels’ Key Demands
The government of President Corazon Aquino on Monday rejected key Communist rebel demands but said it still hopes for a meeting of minds in peace talks scheduled to start Jan. 6.
Presidential spokesman Teodoro Benigno said that rebel demands for an ultimate share of power, kicking U.S. military bases out of the Philippines, a rewriting of the new constitution and a merging of armed forces were all non-negotiable issues.
Each item represents a major demand by the rebels, who for the first time in their 17-year insurgency in the Philippine countryside are observing a cease-fire.
Meanwhile, the archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Jaime Sin, said Monday night that the upcoming peace talks between the government and Communist rebels will be useless.
“You cannot dialogue with the Communists because for them the end justifies the means,” Sin said in a television interview.
Sin was the most senior churchman to criticize the planned talks, intended to bring an end to the 17-year-long guerrilla war.
Sin’s comments came on the eve of an important government-rebel meeting to decide the agenda of the January peace talks.
The rebels are expected to ask that the items rejected by the government be part of the peace talks agenda.
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