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Thursday, April 19, 2007
RP suspends aid to communist faction (7:55 p.m.)
MANILA -- The Philippines has suspended economic assistance to a breakaway communist rebel faction that signed a 2000 peace agreement with the government because of a split within the group, an official said Thursday.
Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza told reporters that the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) informed his office the group had decided to split.
"We suspended support for them because it is difficult to talk to two groups and the resources could not be divided into two groups," Dureza said. "It is very difficult in implementing peace agreements when you deal with a divided partner."
One part of the group is led by RPA-ABB leader Nilo de la Cruz and another by Veronica Tabara, widow of slain communist leader Arturo Tabara, Dureza said.
Ideological differences led to a fracture within the communist rebel organization in the early 1990s when the RPA and ABB broke away from the New People's Army, the communist party's armed wing. The two renegade groups formed an alliance in 1997. (AP)
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