Manila to probe negotiator's status

Manila to probe negotiator's status

MANILA (Reuter): President Fidel Ramos ordered the foreign office yesterday to investigate the citizenship of the top communist negotiator in peace talks with the Philippines.

Former Catholic priest Luis Jalandoni, the senior rebel negotiator in talks that collapsed last month in the Netherlands, has said he has taken Dutch citizenship.

Members of the Philippine Congress have questioned the propriety of holding talks to end the 25-year insurgency with a foreigner. Talks between the two sides broke down over a dispute on guarantees of safety and immunity.

Manila said the guerrillas used the issue in a bid to win recognition as a separate power. The rebels have rejected the allegation.

The number of guerrillas fighting the government has dropped to about 7,000 from a peak of 25,000 in 1988. The government has made progress in forging deals with mutinous army officers and separatist Moslem rebels.