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Bacolod City, Philippines Monday, July 2, 2012
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Army not giving up on
local peace talks

BY GILBERT BAYORAN

Maj. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr., commander of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, Saturday said he has not given up on his call for localized peace dialogs with the regional leaders of the New People’s Army in Negros and Panay.

Mabanta said he has briefed Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. on his call for local peace dialogs with the NPA “because we want peace for everyone and for development to seep in unhampered”.

Col. Oscar Lactao, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said “this will give local government officials and Negrenses a respite from violence and killings”.

Military records show that suspected rebels recently harassed a military outpost and strafed a vehicle passing through the Cauayan highway, after the summary execution of an unarmed Army soldier in Sipalay City.

Mabanta stressed the importance of the participation of governors, mayors and even the clergy in the proposed peace dialog at the regional level.

Priest-turned-rebel Frank Fernandez, spokesman of the National Democratic Front-Negros, has repeatedly rejected calls for localized peace talks in Negros, saying it is a publicity stunt and part of the military “psychological operations.”

Mabanta said the CPP-NPA leaders in the Netherlands, who are enjoying the good life, do not have a grasp of the local situation.

“It is best that the local communists here come down and dialog with us because they are the ones who can help themselves”, he said.

Mabanta said they are looking to the Church sector as a third party to persuade NPA to accept the offer for localized peace dialogs.

Negros Occidental is ranked 13th among the 81 provinces of the country in terms of “insurgency-affectation,” military records show.

Lactao, however, said the insurgency in Negros Occidental is now on the downtrend, citing the reduction of NPA members from its peak of about 1,200 in the late 1980s, to about 245 at present.*GPB

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