Ramos challenges communist leader

Ramos challenges communist leader

MANILA (AFP): President Fidel Ramos yesterday called on the
head of the Philippine communist insurgent movement to take the
same steps towards peace as that of a Moro rebel leader.

Ramos, in a speech in the former communist guerrilla
stronghold of Samar island, copies of which were released in
Manila, said: "I sincerely hope that Chairman Jose Maria
Sison ... will finally do what Chairman Nur Misuari has done for
the MNLF."

Misuari, head of the MNLF, the Moslem insurgent Moro National
Liberation Front, has accepted a provisional peace agreement with
the government and has agreed to run as a ruling coalition
candidate in September elections for a Moslem autonomous region
in the south.

Ramos said yesterday he has "no reason to doubt" that Misuari
will win as governor of the four-province Autonomous Region of
Moslem Mindanao (ARMM) in the Sept. 9 balloting.

The Ramos administration has thrown its full support behind
Misuari's candidacy as part of a package deal to convince the
MNLF to abandon their 24-year armed struggle in which over 50,000
people were killed.

Support for Misuari includes bankrolling his election campaign
and convincing potential opponents from powerful Moslem clans to
back out, Ramos' aides have said.

Sison, who heads the communist insurgent group National
Democratic Front (NDF) which is also holding peace talks with the
government, has condemned Misuari for allegedly selling out to
the government.

Ramos said the peace talks with the communists "are not yet to
be considered as successful as the one with the MNLF but
hopefully, they can take advantage of the opportunity to take
part in our political life by way of the elections, the
constitution and legal systems."

The negotiations began last month in the Netherlands, where
Sison and other communist leaders live in exile, and are due to
resume later this month.

The president noted that other former communist guerrillas had
successfully run for minor political positions after surrendering
to government.

He also cited military coup plotters who also forged a peace
agreement with Manila last year and have since run in elections
with one of their leaders, Gregorio Honasan, being elected to the
senate.