Aquino Offers Amnesty to Communist Rebels

President Corazon Aquino offered “full and complete amnesty” Saturday to Communist rebels who lay down their arms within six months, saying she wants to end the suffering from 18 years of fighting.

“We hope by these measures to reunite families, bind up the brokenhearted and heal the wounds of our nation,” she said on national television.

Her proclamation appeared to be aimed also at Muslim rebels fighting for self-rule or autonomy in the southern Philippines.

The offer came three weeks after a 60-day cease-fire between the government and Communist rebel forces expired Feb. 8. Increased hostilities have killed at least 95 people since then.

Fighting Saturday killed one soldier and one rebel near Davao, 610 miles southeast of Manila. Rebels killed three men suspected of being military informers in a village near Cebu, 360 miles southeast of the capital, military officials said.

Front Went Underground

No immediate reaction to Aquino’s amnesty proclamation came from the Communist-led National Democratic Front, whose representatives went back underground after peace talks broke off in January.

The Front negotiated on behalf of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its 23,500-soldier New People’s Army. It has denounced the idea of amnesty as bribery, saying it would not solve the root causes of the insurgency.

Officials of the Moro National Liberation Front could not be reached for comment Saturday. The Moro Front resumes talks with the government this week in the southern city of Zamboanga on regional autonomy for the Philippines’ 5 million Muslims.

Aquino said the government has set up National Reconciliation and Development centers throughout the country to provide “amnestied rebels . . . the means and training to resume productive roles in the society.”

Jobs, Cash for Rebels

The government will give the rebels jobs, cash for guns they turn in and resettlement in other areas if they fear reprisals from hard-line Communists, said Economic Planning Secretary Solita Monsod, who worked out details of the amnesty package.

The government’s Philippine News Agency quoted Monsod as saying the amnesty offer does not apply to reputed Communist Party Chairman Rodolfo Salas, who was captured in Manila last September.

“We are talking about people who voluntarily come in and not about those who were caught,” she said.

Monsod and other government officials say most guerrillas are not ideologues but peace-loving citizens forced to take up arms to fight abuses and official corruption during 20 years of authoritarian government by ousted President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

The leftist Movement of Philippine Farmers, meanwhile, denounced as a “whitewash” a government commission’s report blaming both police and demonstrators for the deaths of 12 demonstrators on Jan. 22.

The twelve were killed near the presidential palace during a march by peasants demanding land reform. The Communists said the killings were one reason they broke off peace talks.

The commission said the movement’s chairman, Jaime Tadeo, should be charged with sedition and recommended administrative action against seven ranking military and police officials for failure to prevent unnecessary shootings. The commission said it failed in its investigation to identify any of the several troopers who were shown in pictures aiming their weapons at the crowd.

Tadeo said his group plans another march at the palace Tuesday.

The military also said Saturday that Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, the armed forces chief of staff, has ordered the disbanding of all associations within the armed forces except the traditional officers’ and enlisted men’s clubs and alumni associations.

The order appeared directed at the Reform the Armed Forces Movement and an association of soldiers called Guardians. Members of both organizations have figured in at least two coup attempts against Aquino during the past year.