Philippine rebels "indefinitely" suspend peace talks

The Philippine rebel group National Democratic Front (NDF) has "indefinitely" suspended peace talks with the government since its political and armed wings are still on the US terrorist organization list, a local newspaper reported Tuesday.

The founder and head of the NDF, Jose Ma. Sison, told the Philippine Star that the group decided to "temporarily withdraw" from the negotiating table after the US government insisted on keeping the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People's Army (NPA) on its terrorist list.

If the Philippine government is at all interested in the continuity of the peace negotiations, it should have at the least criticized the US renewal of its terrorist listing, he said from his base in the Netherlands.

The NDF, the umbrella organization of the CPP-NPA, earlier announced it will postpone the peace talks scheduled for Aug. 24 in Oslo, Norway, accusing the government of not fulfilling the promise to delist the NPA and the CPP from the US foreign terrorist organizations list.

Manila expressed regret over the delay of the peace talks but said that it can do nothing to persuade the United States and European countries to lift the terror tag on the CPP-NPA.

"The Philippine government has neither self-respect nor shame for proclaiming in effect the sovereign right of the United Statesto trample on the national sovereignty of the Filipino people and interfere in the internal affairs of the Philippines," Sison said.

"The United States has no sovereign right to intervene in Philippine affairs, and put the negotiating panel and consultants of the NDF under duress in peace negotiations," he said.

Sison also said that the "terrorist" label had placed the NDF panel under "duress," with his financial, social, housing and medical benefits being suspended as a "political refugee" by Dutch authorities.

The CPP and its military wing, the 9,000-strong NPA which has been waging an insurgency for 35 years, were designated foreign terror groups by the United States, the European Union, the Netherlands and other Western countries after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States.

However, the rebels insisted that they are from a "legitimate revolutionary organization."

US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone Friday asked the rebel group not to use the US renewal of the terrorist tag against it as an excuse to defer the peace talks with the Philippine government.

"That's just silly. It's just their lame excuse. As we have said in our statement, we remain supportive of any efforts on the part of the Philippine government to encourage the CPP-NPA to abandon their terrorism, including the peace talks," Ricciardone told reporters.

Although the US government would continue to support the peace talks between the Philippine government and the CPP-NPA to end over three decades of insurgency, it would not get them out of theforeign terrorist organization list until they "stop the killings,the burning of the buildings and other vital installations and the assassinations, the ambassador said.

Source: Xinhua