RP denounces communist attacks

RP denounces communist attacks

PHILIPPINES: President Gloria Arroyo denounced on Tuesday a wave
of communist guerrilla attacks in the Philippines over the past
week, but said negotiations to settle the 35-year insurgency
remained on track.

"We will hunt down these isolated NPA (New People's Army)
formations and neutralize their capability to terrorize our
communities," Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a
statement.

But he said any military offensive would "not discourage the
government from seeking a long-term solution to end the more than
30 years of insurgency".

In the latest attack, the NPA ambushed a police convoy on the
central island of Masbate on Monday, killing eight police
officers. Two NPA rebels were slain in a separate clash with the
army on the central island of Negros on Sunday.

The fighting occurred after the government concluded a first
round of formal talks with exiled rebel leaders in Norway on
Saturday, although the two sides did not discuss a cease-fire.

Bunye said: "Peace talks are gaining ground so we will sustain
that momentum until a lasting peace agreement is forged between
the two parties."

The NPA and its mother organization, the Communist Party of
the Philippines, have been waging a 35-year Maoist guerrilla
campaign. --AFP