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Saturday, June 17, 2006
Government allots P1B for anti-insurgency drive
CAUAYAN CITY, Isabela -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday ordered the budget department to release P1 billion to finance the operations of the military and the police against the communist New People's Army (NPA).
Arroyo, in her opening statement at the meeting with officials of the North Luzon super-region here, said "six to 10 years is too long" for the country to wait before the NPA is finally licked. The military said it expects the NPA problem to be finished in 6-10 years.
The President said the amount would be used to buy surplus Huey helicopters, attack helicopters, and other aircraft on soft terms.
"I am ordering the national security group to work with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on selected hardware and funding aside from P5 billion per year modernization that will give a decisive edge against the NPA," she said.
"The fight against the left remains the glue that binds," she added.
Meanwhile, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said on Friday that the filing of murder charges against Community Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chair Jose Ma. Sison by the widows of two of his slain comrades is "tragic".
Gonzales said the widows of Romulo Kintanar and Antonio Tabara, in filing murder raps against Sison, knew what they were talking about because they were "former elements of the same movement and they will not file murder charges unless they are certain."
He said the government will wait for the case to progress, "then we will act accordingly."
"I don't want to consider that as something to be happy about. I think this murder charge against Joma continues to tell us the tragedy we are in as a people. Armed rebellion is creating a tragic situation for our country and it needs to end. These are tragic circumstances that I think we should begin to think seriously about, something that the whole society should be rising against," he said.
Gonzales insisted that the killings of militant leaders and those formerly identified with the left are part of the communist purge, although the group is blaming these on government.
He said the communist central committee believes it is the opportune time to conduct the purge because "every killing is being blamed on government."
The CPP, he claimed, is cleaning up its ranks while portraying the Arroyo government as a human rights violator. (JMR/Sunnex)
(June 17, 2006 issue)
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