Philippine Rebels End Cease-Fire Over Aquino’s Position
Communist rebels announced Saturday that they are ending their cease-fire because President Corazon Aquino is campaigning to keep U.S. forces in the Philippines.
The Philippine Senate has rejected a new U.S. base agreement, but Aquino said she wants to hold a referendum so voters can decide the issue.
A statement by the rebel National Democratic Front said the cease-fire would expire at midnight today and that the New People’s Army would be free to attack “traitorous enemy forces.”
The front, an umbrella organization for 14 Marxist groups, announced the truce Sept. 14, four days before the Senate rejected a new 10-year lease for Subic Bay Naval Base.
“We call on all the revolutionary forces and the entire Filipino people to intensify all forms of struggle against U.S. imperialism and the puppet Aquino regime,” the National Democratic Front said, charging that U.S. forces were illegally occupying the country.
The government never responded to the cease-fire. Instead, it said it would pursue regional peace talks.
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