Philippine Rebels End Cease-Fire : Refuse Extension; Charge Regime Is Insincere in Talks

The cease-fire between Communist-led guerrillas and government forces collapsed Saturday evening, 18 hours before it was due to expire, with the release of a rebel statement declaring that the government of President Corazon Aquino only “went through the motions” of negotiating for peace.

“We cannot see any justification for extending the cease-fire agreement which the Armed Forces of the Philippines blatantly subverted and violated,” said the statement, signed by leaders of the Communists’ National Democratic Front and released to news agencies here.

Teofisto Guingona, the chief government peace negotiator, declared this morning: “The refusal of the National Democratic Front to return to the negotiating table betrays a hard-line posture of a few Communist leaders--diametrically opposed to the desire of the people and many of their own members in the New People’s Army who genuinely want peace.”

Disputes Bad Faith Charge

At a hastily called press conference at the presidential palace, Guingona told reporters that when the Communists “accuse the government of bad faith, they would do well to examine their own record. . . . The government will keep the door to peace open, but it will not accede to unwarranted demands.

“The cease-fire lapses today because the NDF did not heed the desire of the people.”

Defense Minister Rafael Ileto conceded Saturday night that the front’s position doomed the cease-fire. He said that the military would commence a “gradual application of force, . . . a little pressure here and there” in a strategy of achieving regional truces with individual guerrilla commands.

Rebels List Conditions

The Communist front’s “open letter to the Filipino people” declared that rebel negotiators would not resume the peace talks abandoned late last month until the government:

--Shows the determination and capacity to pursue and solve the root causes of the Philippines’ problems.

--Demonstrates effective control over the military.

--Recognizes the National Democratic Front as a legitimate partner in the political arena.

--Begins to work for a general settlement of the insurgency.

“We are convinced that the Aquino government is not serious about negotiating a just and durable peace,” it asserted.

5 Soldiers Slain

As the demands were being circulated, armed forces headquarters was reporting a Friday attack on an army detachment in northern Cagayan province. The report said that a force of 70 men, believed to be Communist guerrillas, killed five soldiers and wounded five others in the assault. There was no word on guerrilla casualties. Smaller skirmishes had been reported elsewhere in the past few days.

At his press conference, Guingona, speaking heatedly, criticized the Communist front’s conditions for a return to the peace talks and an extension of the truce.

He insisted that the Aquino government is already working on the root causes of Philippine problems, mentioning specifically land and labor reforms.

Says Military Backs Aquino

As for effective civilian control over the armed forces, he declared: “The government does this--not because the NDF demands it, but because it is the essence of constitutional government. Despite the series of untoward acts by a misguided few from July to November last year and in January this year, the Armed Forces of the Philippines stands squarely behind President Aquino.”

On the front’s call for legitimacy, Guingona termed it a new demand and said it needs clarification. “Does the NDF, which does not recognize the constitution, now desire to be recognized as a political party?” he asked. “If so, is it willing to renounce violence?”

The peace negotiator said Aquino had given no special orders to the armed forces as the cease-fire lapsed, but said he did not anticipate any major military thrusts in areas where a regional truce might still be arranged. “The door is open,” he declared.

18 Years of Fighting

The 60-day respite has been the only truce between the 200,000-member armed forces and the estimated 23,000 guerrillas since the Communist-led New People’s Army was founded in early 1969, three years before ousted President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law here. Tens of thousands of soldiers, guerrillas and civilians have been killed in the 18-year struggle, more than 2,000 since Aquino succeeded Marcos after a popularly supported military uprising nearly a year ago.

The cease-fire was accompanied by peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front on a political solution. Those negotiations foundered on a series of violent incidents and long-running intractable positions put forward by both sides.

Bishop Antonio Fortich, chairman of the National Cease-Fire Committee formed to hear and investigate violations of the truce, appealed for restraint by both sides as the cease-fire deadline of noon today approached. His panel had received petitions from Filipinos throughout the country calling for an extension, the bishop said.

Government Supported Truce

Aquino, Defense Minister Ileto and Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, the armed forces chief of staff, all said they sought a continuation of the truce, but despite hints that a last-ditch settlement was possible, the Communist side made no reply until Saturday evening.

In a series of public statements in the past few days, the government side outlined its strategy of military pressure and pursuit of regional truce settlements should the deadline pass without response from the insurgents’ national leadership.

“If they remain stubborn or hard-headed . . . we are ready to hit them hard,” Ramos declared Friday. Ileto, in a more cautious statement a day earlier, said, “The military will come in little by little. . . . The application of force will be graduated, very gradual. The regional cease-fire is what we think is applicable at this stage.”

According to press reports and armed forces headquarters, word had been sent by provincial rebel commands both favoring and opposing regional truces. None had been firmly established, according to late reports. Any regional accord would test the control of the insurgents’ national leadership.

Aquino interpreted the 3-to-1 approval in last Monday’s referendum on a new constitution as a popular call for a continuing truce, for “the total rejection of violence or terrorism whether from the left or the right.” The vote, she told a nationwide television audience at midweek, “affirms the permanent presence of the people in the politics of our country.”

The Commission on Elections disclosed Saturday that the official returns showed a 76% approval on a turnout of 86% of the voters. The approval was registered in many areas considered to be dominated by insurgents, including Bataan province.

Rebels Opposed Constitution

The rebel side advocated rejection of the constitution, terming it “fatally flawed.”

Throughout a turbulent few weeks marked by a bloody clash between the military and peasant marchers outside the gates of the presidential palace and yet another mutiny within the armed forces, Aquino continued to support a resumption of the peace negotiations.

Last summer, in an address to a joint session of Congress in Washington, the 54-year-old president declared: “I must explore the path of peace to the utmost, for at its end, whatever disappointment I meet there, is the moral basis for laying down the olive branch of peace and taking up the sword of war. . . . Should it come to that, I will not waver.”

Called Leader of Elite

In formally breaking off the peace negotiations 10 days ago , the National Democratic Front, which negotiated for the Communist Party and the New People’s Army, labeled Aquino a leader of the elite classes, those sharing “the same standpoint of being anti-people, anti-revolution, pro-imperialist and pro-feudal.”

“They differ only in their choice of approach or method of repressing the people,” the front’s statement said, citing the Jan. 22 “Mendiola massacre”--in which 19 demonstrators were killed in the clash with military and police units at Mendiola Bridge near the presidential palace--as the breaking point for the talks. “Should the government and the military pursue their policy of an unjust peace, then we have no option but to resort to a policy of waging a just war.”

The front had put forward a 10-point peace plan, including a demand for the release of Rodolfo Salas, reputed Communist Party chairman, who was arrested in Manila last September. Another key point called for comprehensive land reform. On Friday, in a four-hour meeting with a leftist farmers union, Aquino agreed to distribute sequestered, idle or abandoned land to farmers at an “affordable” price.

Front’s Office Closed

The National Democratic Front negotiators, Carolina Malay and former newspapermen Saturnino Ocampo and Antonio Zumel, had kept a high profile in Manila after the truce began, promoting their cause on television talk shows and appearing at parties. They disappeared the day after the shootings at Mendiola Bridge. On Friday, the front’s office, which was established at the National Press Club in downtown Manila, was shuttered. Government contact with the rebel leadership was maintained only through a leftist attorney serving as intermediary.

Throughout the 60-day truce, the government and the military leadership were embroiled in continued restiveness within the uniformed ranks, culminating in an unsuccessful rightist mutiny last month. A repeated complaint was that Aquino and her civilian advisers lacked an evenhanded approach in dealing with past offenses by guerrillas and military men.

Meanwhile, the guerrillas used the break in large-scale fighting to train and resupply their forces, according to military analysts here. The front’s statement, however, charged that the military was active during the truce. “The Armed Forces of the Philippines took advantage of concessions we granted and of its overwhelming military superiority to try to push back the NPA (New People’s Army) from its previously held positions,” the front group said.

200 Truce Violations

According to Bishop Fortich’s committee on truce violations, nearly 200 incidents were reported by the two sides.

A Western military attache said recently that if full-scale fighting resumes, the hot spots are likely to be the Bicol region of southern Luzon island, Quezon province in eastern Luzon, Cagayan Valley in the north, and parts of Mindanao, where the rebellion has been strongest in recent years.

Armed forces chief Ramos said the military would pursue a twofold strategy, attacking rebel commands that reject regional cease-fires while trying to undermine popular support for the insurgents with development projects and psychological warfare.

Amnesty Program Expected

Aquino is also expected to unveil an amnesty program later this month. Guerrillas coming down from the hills--so-called returnees--would be given cash for their weapons, as well as job training and land.

The National Democratic Front, however, speaking for the insurgent leadership, rejected overtures of amnesty in its Jan. 30 statement breaking off the peace talks. “The peace that Filipino people want . . . ,” the statement said, “is not the peace of compromise between wolf and sheep, not the surrender of one side to another.”