Arroyo asks NPA to stop 'terrorism'

President Gloria Arroyo has singled out the 33-year-old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as the only leftist group with a terrorist military armed component, the New People's Army (NPA).

She said that she wanted the NPA to stop its activities so that the Philippine government and the communist National Democratic Front (NDF) could continue holding peace talks.

"The problem is with the Communist Party of the Philippines. It has an NPA which undertakes terrorist activities," alleged Arroyo. "While we are having peace talks, I hope the NPA does not continue with its ambuscades, its assassinations, and its armed struggle."

It was a hint that she wanted a ceasefire accord to be reached by the government and the NDF, instead of the two camps continuing to talk and agree on interim agreements before they forge an agreement on cessation of hostilities.

The government applied the same strategy in holding talks with the former separatist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Meanwhile, some 18 members of Anakbayan, a leftist group, wore skull masks and held anti-U.S. placards as they marched to the U.S. embassy here.

The placards said the U.S. had killed many victims in the Philippines, East Timor, Vietnam, Korea, Nicaragua, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Guatemala, Panama, Iran, and Palestine.

"No amount of propaganda can alter the U.S. long history of being the murderer of humanity," the group said in a statement.

Reynaldo Velasco, director of the national capital region police office, said law enforcement units were on a high alert to meet security threats from the communists.

At the same time, the Philippines and the U.S. governments asked the Netherlands to pave the way for a worldwide freeze on the funds that are being given to CPP founding chairman, Jose Maria Sison, said Maurits Tarkuile, spokesman of the Netherlands embassy in Manila.

Other countries have also filed similar requests with the Dutch government, noted Tarkuile.

Foreign Undersecretary Lauro Baja stated that the Philippine government had made the same request earlier.

"This request is being studied by the Hague," Tarkuile confirmed.

The Dutch city of Utrecht hosts about 30 exiled Filipino leftist leaders, including other anti-Sison leftist members.

The CPP-NPA raises $21 million annually from progressive groups in Europe. The amount does not include the funding from its taxation from the provinces, said Alex Magno, president of the Manila think-tank Foundation for Economic Freedom.

But the Netherlands government is not giving any money to Sison since his request for asylum has been denied in the past, said Tarkuile.

He added that NDF founder, Luis Jalandoni, is the only one who receives social service benefits from the Dutch government.

Analysts said the "terrorist" tag slapped by the U.S. on the CPP-NPA will be good for the Philippine government because the group will lose its funding and at the same time its leaders will be forced to hold peace talks with the government.

Otherwise, they will have to face trial for criminal offences in the Philippines, once they are deported from the Netherlands.

Magno said: "This action will put great pressure on the Utrecht group's claim to sanctuary on the basis of political persecution if the money trail could be documented and linked to the terrorist activities of the CPP-NPA," said Magno.

"The immediate effect (of the U.S. action) is the close monitoring of their (CPP's) European funding."

He added that the funds are channelled through banking systems beyond U.S. jurisdiction.
With the U.S. pressure, they (in the CPP-NPA-NDF) "would have no choice but to continue the peace process," said armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Eduardo Purificacion.

Congressman Satur Ocampo expressed the fear that Sison might be expelled from the Netherlands.

Foreign Secretary Blas Ople noted that if the funding of the CPP-NPA is frozen, it "can help staunch the flow of finance and other support for local armed groups and, thus, help prevent further conflict and additional loss of life."

The Philippine government did not ask the U.S. government to declare the CPP-NPA a terrorist group, insisted Ople.

"It (U.S. action) was supported by evidence based on the track record of the CPP-NPA themselves. The NPA's past attacks on U.S. citizens and business interests make it understandable for the U.S. government to take these threats seriously rather than wait for harm or damage to be visited upon their people."

Several government officials stressed that Arroyo is dedicated to forging a peace settlement with the NDF.

"The government will continue to exert every effort to bring the peace process to a successful conclusion," said Ople.