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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 2, Number 9 April 7 - 13, 2002 Quezon City, Philippines |
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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 2, Number 9 April 7 - 13, 2002 Quezon City, Philippines |
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NPA marks 33rd year, parries military charges The New People’s Army (NPA), armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), observed its 33rd year last March 29 by proclaiming in its traditional anniversary statement its increased strength of 129%. At the same time, it refuted AFP charges in separate statements issued one after another. BY
BULATLAT.COM CPP
Chairman Armando Liwanag, who Philippine military authorities say is Jose Ma.
Sison, CPP founder living in exile in The Netherlands, said that membership in
the party increased by 129% from 1994 to 2001. The NPA, on the other hand,
posted a 53% growth during the same period. Liwanag said the NPA has 128 guerrilla fronts nationwide, covering 8,500 villages and with an average of two platoons per front. CPP also called for unity against the Macapagal-Arroyo regime which, it said, seeks to remain in power beyond 2004 by acceding to all the demands of the United States especially in military matters. It said that the presence of U.S. military forces in the country is “a time bomb” that can explode in the government’s face. It warned that the NPA is prepared to wage a “war of national liberation” if faced with a full-blown U.S. military aggression in the Philippines. Meanwhile, CPP spokesperson Gregorio Rosal dismissed military charges that the 58 skeletal remains unearthed from shallow graves in Candelaria, Quezon were those of victims of CPP’s anti-infiltration drive in Southern Tagalog. Rosal said that the operation did not reach the town of Candelaria and that the remains were most likely those of victims of military summary executions. He called for the use of forensic experts to analyze the remains which the military later dismissed. In a separate statement, Rosal described a military report on alleged conflict among CPP leaders as a third-rate fiction. Quoting army spokesman Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta, Agence France Press reported that a faction in the CPP led by Benito Tiamzon is opposing the peace talks with the Arroyo government, in contrast to Sison who has been directly participating in the peace talks with the title of chief consultant to the National Democratic Front of the Philippine (NDFP). Rosal
said, “More than anything else, it is the militarism and puppetry of the
Macapagal-Arroyo government that is imperiling the peace talks.”
He cited recent government actions “which virtually put an end to the
peace negotiations,” among them the government decision to limit the
negotiation to “back-channel talks” and dissolve the government peace panel;
branding the NPA as “terrorist”; disregarding the 1992 The Hague Declaration
which outlines principles and ground rules of the peace negotiations; and
allowing the entry of American troops. Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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