Chief government negotiator Alexander Padilla, who sat down with his rebel counterpart last week, said the government wanted a peaceful settlement of the 41-year Maoist rebellion, which has stunted economic development and tainted the Philippines’ human rights record.
In the latest fighting, army chief Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz said soldiers exchanged fire with New People’s Army rebels hiding in an abandoned house in southern Compostela Valley province, killing three guerrillas and wounding one.
In a separate clash in eastern Sorsogon province, army spokesman Maj. Harold Cabunoc said soldiers surrounded a house and fired at occupants who refused to surrender, killing two rebels and capturing three others.
“I received a text message from a concerned resident of San Isidro village that they were forced out of their homes by heavily armed rebels at around 7 p.m. last night,” said 1st Lt. Sandy Sereno.
He said the civilian tipster led him and his company early Tuesday to the house where the suspected rebels had spent the night.
“I awakened the rebels ... we received no reply but gunfire from inside the house, prompting us to return fire,” he said in a statement.
An army medic treated two wounded rebels while another was captured and identified as a guerrilla front commander in the province, the statement said.
The rebels took up arms 41 years ago to establish a Marxist state, accusing the government of failing to solve deep poverty, social and political divisions, and being subservient to US interests.
An estimated 120,000 people have died in the conflict. The 5,000-strong rebels broke off the latest round of talks in 2004 after complaining that the administration of then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo instigated the inclusion of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing on US and European lists of terrorists organizations.
Hopes were raised for the resumption of talks with the communist insurgents, as well as with Muslim separatist rebels, after the country’s new and popular president, Benigno Aquino III, took office in June and reorganized the government peace panels.
Last week, Padilla met his rebel counterpart, Luis Jalandoni, in Hong Kong and they agreed to a 19-day Christmas cease-fire starting Dec. 16 and talks in January that could lead to formal negotiations the following month.
“We cannot defeat the insurgency by the force of arms alone. It needs a political solution,” Padilla said Tuesday in an interview with ABS-CBN television.
