Manila declares NPA a terrorist organisation

The Philippine government yesterday declared the communist New People's Army (NPA) an international terrorist organisation and ordered the military and police to undertake a renewed offensive against the rebel group.

The government decision followed exhaustive meetings called by President Gloria Arroyo in the past two days amidst intensified attacks by the NPA on police and civilian targets.

Emerging from the meeting yesterday, Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Joey Lina said a supposed five-year plan to end the communist insurgency problem will be conducted on an expedited timetable and that the government will go after the NPA with renewed intensity.

The military last week launched Operation Gordian Knot, a renewed offensive against the communist rebels. Lina pointed to the recent NPA attacks as the reason why the government has formally branded the NPAs a terrorist group.

By putting the terrorist tag on the NPA, the Philippines government hopes to get the cooperation of foreign countries with which it has "anti-terrorist" agreements in containing the 33-year-old insurgency.

The United States earlier placed the rebels on its list of foreign terrorist organisations. "Yes, we have advanced a step. Before, we just welcome the statement of the U.S. that they (NPA rebels) are terrorists. Now we are making definite statements that the NPAs are terrorists," Lina said.

Despite pinning the terrorist label on the NPA, Lina said the government is still keeping an open line of communication "for the sake of peace."

Similarly, the government has called on the NPA to stop its attacks, especially against civilian targets, "so that the peace process moves on."

In an interview, Eduardo Ermita, presidential adviser on the peace process, said Arroyo is sincere in pushing for the peace process and in pursuing programmes that will improve people's lives.

He said the government panel, to the suspended peace negotiations with the foreign-based leaders of the NPA and its ideological backbone the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), has prepared a draft agreement that has already been presented to the cabinet's oversight committee.

"As soon as the president approves the draft, it will be submitted to the CPP-NPA and hopefully, the formal peace talks will be resumed," Ermita said.

According to Ermita, the NPA has staged a series of attacks during the past few days to show that it is still capable of doing some harm.

He added, however, that the insurgents' threat to sow more violence and attack non-combatant targets and facilities will only exacerbate the problem and further derail the peace negotiations.

"If they do that, this will only prove that they are really terrorists. This will stop the resumption of the talks since what they are doing only confirms that they are terrorists," Ermita said.

Killing innocent civilians, destruction of utilities and resorting to extortion activities only adds to the misery of the people, especially those in the provinces.

In its latest attack, the NPA killed a pro-government militiaman during a rebel attack on a private construction firm in San Narciso town, Quezon province, some 70 kilometres south of Manila.

The attack occurred more than a week after communist guerrillas raided a police station in nearby Lopez town in the same province wherein a police superintendent and another official was killed in the hour-long gun-battle.