COTABATO CITY, 3 November — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday urged Philippine communist leaders not to abandon the peace process despite their being blacklisted as a “terrorist” group.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said their fellow rebels should “prove that the United States, Australia and the EU were wrong” in labeling them as terrorists.
“We sympathize with our brother revolutionaries in the NDF (National Democratic Front), but things should be studied carefully and wisely,” Kabalu said in reaction to a statement by Communist Part of the Philippines (CPP) chairman Jose Ma. “Joma” Sison yesterday on national television that the NDF was pulling out of the peace talks.
Sison on Friday warned of “fiercer armed revolution” following the European Union’s decision to tag him and the CPP’s armed wing — the New People’s Army — as terrorists.
The EU’s classification came after a one-week diplomatic mission by the Philippines to inform member countries of the terrorist activities of communist guerrillas.
It also follows earlier moves by the United States, Canada and Australia to include Filipino communist rebels in their own list of foreign terrorists.
Kabalu warned that Sison’s decision could lead to “bloodshed, waste of life and property.”
“Negotiation as a vehicle for a peaceful settlement of conflicts is now the trend worldwide,” he said, adding that the MILF had been guided by the same principle.
The MILF has a standing cease-fire agreement with the government, signed by representatives of the two sides in Kuala Lumpur last year.
Kabalu said the government should also “explore other avenues” to resume the peace talks.
He said the MILF also has its own frustrations with various groups trying to derail its peace talks with the government. For instance, he said, the alleged repeated attacks by government troops in Central Mindanao on MILF positions is not serving any good purpose to further the peace process.
But Kabalu said the MILF is availing itself of the available remedies to resolve truce violations rather than outrightly abandoning the peace process.
Still open to talks
In Manila, President Arroyo’s adviser on the peace process, said the government remains open to peace negotiations with communist rebels despite renewed threats by the guerrillas to escalate attacks.
“We wish that they reconsider their position. The Philippine government still follows the same track of looking forward to the resumption of negotiations,” adviser Eduardo Ermita said.
Ermita said the Cabinet is drafting a peace agreement which could serve as terms of reference for future peace talks with the communist guerrillas.
Ermita observed that Sison’s saber-rattling was just a “knee-jerk reaction” to the EU blacklist since the guerrillas get considerable funding from European organizations.
“They feel bad that the sources of funds will dry up,” he said. “That is why they are threatening to undertake more violent activities as though to convince the people that the action of the EU and the US is wrong.”
Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes also offered the olive branch, saying “the policy of accommodation” was open to those who would abandon the 33-year armed struggle.
Reyes said in a statement that the European Union’s inclusion of Sison and the NPA in its terrorist list amounted to a “strategic loss” for the insurgents and served as a signal to them to change their violent stance.
“I think it’s time for them to seriously reconsider (their position) and start efforts to drop and renounce armed struggle and their use of terror and violence,” Reyes said, adding:
“The policy of accommodation remains open to the (insurgents) who would renounce violent aims and show willingness to join the country’s democratic process.”
Besides, their armed struggle to establish a Maoist state in the country had caused “so much misery, so much loss of lives and damage to property,” said Reyes, who had earlier announced that the government would draft a comprehensive peace plan to end the communist insurgency.
Peace talks between the Philippine government and communist rebels have been suspended since June 2001 because of unabated attacks on civilian targets, including the assassination of two lawmakers.
Communist rebels have been fighting the government since 1969, making the movement one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia.
