from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Friday March 9, 8:09 PM Philippines declares 30-day ceasefire with communist insurgents SANTA CRUZ, Philippines, March 9 (AFP) - Philippine President Gloria Arroyo declared Friday a 30-day unilateral ceasefire with communist insurgents as government negotiators held talks with the rebels' Netherlands-based leader. The truce starts Monday, giving the New People's Army (NPA) an opportunity to make good its pledge to free captive army Major Noel Buan, the president announced during a provincial visit to this city of Santa Cruz, south of the capital. Government forces would refrain from conducting "offensive military operations" across 11 provinces south of Manila. Arroyo urged the NPA's mother organization, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), to "reciprocate this gesture" by freeing the kidnapped soldier. Arroyo later flew to the nearby town of Sariaya to attend the wake of a police officer who suffered fatal bullet wounds when his rebel captors clashed with a military patrol near the town of General Nakar north of here early Thursday. Chief Inspector Abelardo Martin, 52, was abducted in November 1999, amid an NPA kidnapping spree which forced the previous government to call off peace negotiations with the communists. Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza flew to the Netherlands and met Wednesday with the exiled CPP founder Jose Maria Sison, government sources said Friday. Sison has expressed interest in resuming peace talks owing to the confidence-building measures initiated by the new government, said the sources, who asked not to be named. Braganza is due to return to Manila next week. "I do not wish the unfortunate incident involving police inspector Abelardo Martin to happen again. The families of Martin and Buan as well as the entire nation have suffered enough anguish," Arroyo said. "Let us set us the tough talks and polemics and for once, give our people a break." National police chief Leandro Mendoza has ordered an investigation into the death of the police officer, including where the fatal bullets came from, police spokesman Superintendent Rodrigo De Gracia said. The NPA armory is largely made up of guns which they strip off the body of soldiers killed in hit and run attacks. Military spokesman Brigadier General Generoso Senga denied that Martin died from negligence and said that Martin was not killed by government bullets. He reiterated that the soldiers were not trying to rescue Martin but were merely attempting to interdict an NPA unit which raided a police station last week. They did not know the captive was with the rebel unit, he said. The month-long truce effectively gives the NPA a "presidential safe conduct pass to come down from the hills ... without fear of being interdicted by our troops," Arroyo said. Despite the ceasefire, she stressed that Manila would not allow the NPA to carry firearms openly or engage in criminal acts. The provinces covered by the ceasefire are Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, Palawan, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Rizal, Marinduque, Aurora and Rombon. Arroyo last month, ordered a unilateral ceasefire in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao with the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The MILF mounted two raids in the southern island of Mindanao on Friday, killing one soldier and leaving seven other people wounded, a military spokesman said. Two other soldiers were injured when they stepped on a land mine laid by the MILF. ------- Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------- Make good on the promise you made at graduation to keep in touch. Classmates.com has over 14 million registered high school alumni--chances are you'll find your friends! http://us.click.yahoo.com/l3joGB/DMUCAA/4ihDAA/DizXlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------- ******** from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: Congrats to Filipino people Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Congratulations to the Filipino People! List-Owner: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-URL: http://www.antiimperialista.com/cgi- antiimperialista/mojo/mojo.cgi?list=Antiimperialist_Camp_News Organization: Antiimperialist Camp News Following we publish a press release by BAYAN-Network on the occasion of the ouster of the corrupt Filipino president Estrada. We congratulate the comrades of BAYAN as well as the Filipino popular movement for their tenacity and courage and express our deepest solidarity with their political and social struggle, which is far from being terminated with this victory. In fact, we still remember the experience of the people's power of 1986, which actually was abused by the later president Corazon Aquino who betrayed and bloodily repressed the popular movement deeply disappointing the people's hopes in democracy and social justice. We call upon the Filipino people to bear in mind this bitter experience in order not to trust the new president and the new government who are trying to abort the popular movement with cheap promises and compromises. The struggle of the Filipino people for democracy and social justice must continue also under the new government! Anti-imperialist Camp --------------------------------------------------------------------- Press Statement 20 January 2001 CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FILIPINO PEOPLE, CARRY THE STRUGGLE THROUGH TO THE END By Jose Maria Sison NDFP Chief Political Consultant http://www.antiimperialista.com/en/view.shtml?category=9&id=980460016 &keyword=+ Antiimperialist Camp PF 23, A-1040 Vienna, Austria Tel&Fax +43 1 504 00 10 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.antiimperialista.com/en ******** from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: Agence: Thousands rally against Estrada Thousands rally against Estrada By Yoko Kobayash, in Manila Several thousand Filipinos demanding President Joseph Estrada's resignation spent a third day on the streets of the capital yesterday as the country's top clergyman called for a human chain of protest. But with Mr Estrada still enjoying significant support, especially among the poor and MPs, it was unclear whether the protest movement would reach the same intensity as the 1986 "people power" revolt. Yesterday's protest was centred on the Edsa shrine, one of the rallying sites for the movement that swept the dictator Ferdinand Marcos from power. "Go to Edsa. Stay at Edsa. Keep watch and pray," said the Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Jaime Sin, one of the leading figures behind the drive to remove Mr Estrada. Cardinal Sin, who played an important role in the 1986 people power movement, said he would hold an afternoon Mass yesterday, and called for a human chain from the statue of the assassinated opposition leader Mr Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino along Ayala Avenue, in the Makati business district, to the Edsa shrine, about 10 kilometres away. Mr Aquino's widow, Corazon, eventually succeeded Mr Marcos as president. The protests were triggered by a decision by a Senate impeachment court on Tuesday to reject evidence against Mr Estrada that prosecutors said would show he had amassed 3.3 billion pesos ($110 million) while in office, in violation of anti-corruption laws. The decision pointed to Mr Estrada's likely acquittal on corruption charges. The trial came to an abrupt halt on Wednesday after all 11 prosecutors resigned. Philippine financial markets were sent reeling yesterday because of fears of political turmoil, and the peso hit an all-time low. Stocks slumped 6 per cent. The Speaker of the House of Representatives,Mr Arnulfo Fuentabella, said majority members had met on Wednesday night and were not inclined to accept the resignation of the prosecutors from the impeachment court. The House majority, which is made up of about 120 members out of the total of 218 and broadly supports Mr Estrada, was due to meet again yesterday to try to persuade the prosecutors to return to the trial. Mr Fuentabella told a local radio station he believed it was the duty of prosecutors when they took their oath to finish the case on behalf of the House. But the prosecutors, most of them from opposition groups, have said their resignation is irrevocable. Meanwhile, a former girlfriend of Mr Estrada, who has described himself as a reformed adulterer, has alleged that he used to beat the women he was involved with. Nora Aunor, a film actor and singer, said she regretted having campaigned for Mr Estrada, a former movie star, in the 1998 presidential election. "What I know is, he beats people," she said. "Women. Men. There were such incidents before." Aunor also said she had ended up black and blue from one such assault. A spokesman for Mr Estrada said Aunor had an axe to grind with the President, whose party had refused to back her in coming local elections. Aunor has announced plans to stand for governor of eastern Camarines Sur province. Agence France-Presse " JC _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
