Arroyo welcomes freeze of NPA funds

President Gloria Arroyo has said the blocking of the assets and bank accounts of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military arm, the New People's Army (NPA), will hasten the forging of a peace settlement with the communist National Democratic Front (NDF).

The freezing of the funds by the foreign ministry of the Netherlands "could hasten the peace talks so that the other side (leftists) can think of a parliamentary struggle, of using the democratic space rather than engaging in violence and terrorism", said Arroyo.

She added that she has been "communicating with them" and telling them "to make the move from a violent and terroristic mode to parliamentary".

Although she confirmed the resumption of the peace negotiations with the NDF, Arroyo noted: "(The talks are) in limbo, because I have put it in a back-channeling mode."

The Hague froze the assets and bank accounts of the CPP on the basis of a UN Security Council resolution on fighting international terrorism following the September 11 attacks in the United States. The U.S. included the CPP-NPA on its list of 34 foreign terrorists.

At the same time, Arroyo announced the retention of Presidential Management Staff chief, Silvestre Afable Jr., for the back-door negotiations with the NDF, hinting that Secretary for Special Concern, Norberto Gonzales, is no longer a part of the team, in response to the NDF's demand.

Chief government negotiator, Silvestre Bello III, earlier said the peace talks might resume either end of August or mid-September.

He added that NDF spokesman, Luis Jalandoni, confirmed that the talks could be held either in Norway or in the Netherlands.

Other observers said the CPP and the NPA would be debilitated because of the blocking of their foreign funds, and that this would boost Arroyo's campaign to continue holding peace talks with the NDF as she fights terrorism in her country.

But CPP founding chairman, Jose Maria Sison, said: "The CPP does not have bank accounts in the Netherlands. Our funds come from the farmers and businessmen from the Philippines."

He has been living in exile in the Dutch city of Utrecht along with 30 other top Filipino rebels.

"We are happy that one of the first to respond to (the call of the United States government to freeze the funds of the CPP-NPA as a foreign terrorist group) is the Netherlands government," said National Security Council head, Roilo Golez.

"We are talking of funds that were very likely fruits of their extortion activities here in the Philippines and from remnants of communist parties in Europe," Golez said.

Alex Magno, head of a government think tank noted that the CPP-NPA collected an estimated $21 million from foreign supporters.

Golez estimated the group received as much as P108 million ($2.16 million) in 1999; P93 million ($1.86 million) in 2000; and P98 million ($1.96 million) in 2001. For this year, collections could have reached P50 million ($1 million).

Retired Filipino general Alfredo Filler, head of consulting firm Independent Insight, said the CPP-NPA's foreign funding has been "reduced substantially" since the end of the Cold War, and pointed out that this has weakened the CPP-NPA.

Because of this, the CPP-NPA could no longer threaten the existence of the Philippine government, but "they can do a lot of mischief", Filler said.

The military report said this year, the CPP-NPA initiated 116 liquidation (missions), killed 92 civilians and wounded 21 others. Last year, they killed 164 people by liquidation or by summary executions.