Clash of communist rivals looms in Philippines

A leader of the House of Representatives yesterday urged the police and military to strengthen their intelligence gathering capabilities to prevent bloodshed in the looming war between rival communist groups - the New People's Army (NPA) and the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB).

Lawmaker Prospero Pichay Jr. made the call fearing that civilians could be caught in the crossfire once fighting erupts between the two groups. The fighting is possible following the slaying of Arturo Tabara, a former NPA commander who joined the RPA-ABB. Pichay, a former chairman of the House committee on national defence, said a war could erupt between the two groups after former NPA leader Nilo de la Cruz, who now heads the RPA-ABB, hinted of a possible retaliation against the NPA which he blamed for the killing of Tabara.

In reply, NPA spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said the NPA is ready to clash with the RPA-ABB. "The interest of civilians should be considered primarily by the NPA and the RPA-ABB before undertaking any plan that involves violence. Innocent lives should not be sacrificed in their war brewing against each other," he said.

Pichay, chairman of the House contingent to the commission on appointments, said the RPA-ABB's plan to retaliate for Tabara's death could result in serious consequences.

He said the group should let the police and the courts resolve the case. Pichay said the Armed Forces and the PNP, in particular, have the constitutional duty to protect the public from the looming war between the two groups.

Meanwhile, the president's palace appealed to the NPA and the ABB to resolve peacefully their rift in connection with the assassination of Tabara last on September 26.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye issued the appeal after reports that the NPA is girding for an encounter with the breakaway RPA-ABB. Although the matter is an internal problem of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the palace official urged the warring factions of the NPA and the RPA-ABB to spare innocent civilians from their conflict following Tabara's killing at a parking lot in suburban Quezon City.

Rosal had claimed the RPA-ABB were principally formed by Tabara and De La Cruz in the 1990s to fight the NPA after they broke away from Jose Ma. Sison, CPP founder who is in self-exile in the Netherlands. Rosal said the CPP leadership wanted to disband the ABB after its partisans were found serving hired assassins and staging kidnappings and bank robberies. But then the RPA-ABB joined forces with the ABB after its leaders openly defied the orders of the CPP central committee to break up, Rosal said. Rosal claimed NPA guerrillas might have been trying to "arrest" Tabara to bring him to trial before a people's court.

The RPA-ABB had denied claims Tabara was working as a spy for the military. Tabara was the third senior breakaway CPP leader to be assassinated since 2001.

Police said the killing of Tabara could be tied to the assassination of two other former rebel leaders Felimon Lagman at the University of the Philippines campus in Quezon City in 2001, and Romulo Kintanar inside a Japanese restaurant, also in Quezon City.