Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Wed, 16 Dec 1992 11:47:05 +1100
From:         lulu@COOMBS.ANU.EDU.AU
Subject:      PH:News 10-14 Dec

14DEC92 PHILIPPINES: PHILIPPINE MASSACRE LEAVES UP TO 40 DEAD
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Dec 14, Reuter - Moslem bandits in the southern
Philippines herded villagers into a basketball court and opened fire with
assault rifles, killing up to 40, police said on Monday. Survivors of the
Saturday night massacre in Zamboanga del Sur province told reporters the
gunmen were angered by the refusal of some villagers to pay protection
money of 500 pesos ($20) per family. "We were asleep when they fired on our
house. There was shooting all over. My son was wounded. We ran away and
hid," said Rosenda Rasonado, 47, who was unhurt. Morgan Magtuba, 50, who
was shot in the legs, told reporters he was among the males herded by the
gunmen into the village basketball court but he survived by feigning death.
He said the gunmen, armed with armalite rifles, told villagers to go to the
court for a lecture. Then they opened fire. In Manila, national police
chief Raul Imperial ordered a manhunt for the estimated 20 killers,
believed to be former members of a Moslem separatist group who have turned
to banditry, a police spokesman said. There were conflicting reports on the
number of people killed when the gunmen raided the two villages in the
municipality of Tungawan, about 850 km (530 miles) south of Manila. Police
headquarters in Manila said regional command reports put the death toll at
40. Superintendent Indo Ho said accounts from survivors interviewed in a
Zamboanga hospital placed the number of dead at "more than 20." At least 10
were wounded. After the shooting, the raiders went to the next village
where they fired on about 20 houses before torching them, police said. Some
of the houses were occupied when the gunmen burned them down, survivors
said. Police said the victims were members of the Subanon farming tribe.
They said the extortion money demanded by the killers included 200 pesos
($8) for every harvest of corn and rice. (c) Reuters Limited

  11DEC92 PHILIPPINES: PHILIPPINES TO FREE 27 IN GOODWILL GESTURE
MANILA, Dec 11, Reuter - The Philippines will free 27 political detainees
as a Christmas goodwill gesture and to boost peace talks aimed at ending
communist, Moslem and army rebellions, justice secretary Franklin Drilon
said on Friday. Human rights organisations say there are more than 500
political detainees in the country. The government is making final details
of an amnesty package and drafting positions to be taken in negotiating an
end to rebellions by army dissidents, Moslem separatists and communist
guerrillas. Three top communist rebel leaders on Friday rejected
accusations by the communist party's founding chairman that they were
trying to destroy the organisation. Former party chairman Jose Maria Sison
accused the three of being renegades who were helping the government, the
Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper reported on Thursday. He said the three
were responsible for a series of articles claiming there was a split in the
party. "He has no right to accuse us of being traitors to the revolutionary
movement," Romulo Kintanar, who used to head communist rebel forces in the
New People's Army, told reporters at a news conference in Manila. "I hope
he calms down because he is not helping the interests of the Filipino
people," said Kintanar, who was freed from detention along with other rebel
leaders ahead of proposed talks, for which a date has yet to be set. The
two other guerrilla leaders, former party secretary-general Ricardo Reyes
and central committee member Benjamin de Veyra, also denied Sison's
allegations. Military officials estimate there were about 13,500 communist
guerrillas as of mid-1992, down from a peak of 25,200 in 1988. The
communists have been fighting for 23 years to establish a Marxist state.
(c) Reuters Limited

   11DEC92 PHILIPPINES: MANILA COURT CONFIRMS DEAL WITH MARCOS "CRONY".
 MANILA, Dec 11, Reuter - A Philippine court on Friday upheld a
million-dollar deal struck with an alleged crony of former president
Ferdinand Marcos, despite an attempt by the government to quash it. The
deal with Roberto Benedicto, a Marcos associate who controlled the
Philippine's sugar industry, was agreed in 1990 under the government of
former president Corazon Aquino. Benedicto agreed to turn over two billion
pesos ($80 million) to Manila in return for immunity from prosecution.
Magtanggol Gunigundo, head of a government panel in charge of recovering
hidden wealth stashed away by Marcos and his cronies, claimed Benedicto
offered assets he does not own. The Sandiganbayan anti-graft court turned
down Gunigundo's appeal for being without merit." The pact allowing
Benedicto to cede to the government more than two billion pesos ($80
million) in assets in and outside the Philippines was approved by the court
last October. Former first lady Imelda Marcos had also opposed the
agreement but chose not to appeal the decision of the court. (c) Reuters
Limited

11DEC92 PHILIPPINES: PHILIPPINES, ARMY REBELS CLOSE TO A TRUCE.
            MANILA, Dec 10, Reuter - The Philippine government is hopeful
it will soon agree on a truce with army rebels who have launched six coup
attempts since 1986, a senior official said on Thursday. Haydee Yorac, head
of the National Unification Commission (NUC) in charge of negotiations to
end leftist and right-wing insurgencies in the Philippines, told reporters
they were optimistic talks with the rebel soldiers may start soon. "There
may be a preliminary agreement on a cessation of hostilities," Yorac said,
adding their initiatives for a settlement with the army rebels are
progressing more quickly than we anticipated." Mutinous troops led by a
group of junior officers under dismissed army colonel Gregorio Honasan
nearly toppled the government of former president Corazon Aquino in a
series of bloody coups that were quashed by loyal military units. "We are
sure that, before the end of the year, there will be something concrete and
substantial and positive accomplished with respect to (the army rebels),"
Yorac said. A splinter Moslem separatist group called the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front has also accepted government offers to open peace talks in
the southern Philippines she added. The NUC rejected communist demands for
a prisoner swap and a unilateral ceasefire during the Christmas holidays.
Yorac said release of prisoners and a Christmas ceasefire should be part of
confidence-building measures to be undertaken by both sides. (c) Reuters
Limited

10DEC92 PHILIPPINES: POLITICIAN WANTED FOR FOUR MURDERS SURRENDERS
 MANILA, Dec 10, Reuter - A former Philippine congressman accused of
murdering a political rival and three bodyguards surrendered hours after
President Fidel Ramos stepped up a massive manhunt for him, police said on
Thursday. Jorge Nunez gave himself up to government agents at a petrol
station in Manila on Wednesday night after calling Defence Secretary Renato
de Villa to say he was turning himself in. Nunez faces charges for the
alleged killing of a town mayor and his three bodyguards in Cavite province
in March during national elections. The mayor, Octavio Velasco, supported
Ramos during the presidential elections. At a news conference after his
arrest, Nunez -- who has been on the run since last month -- denied any
involvement in the killings. He said he had not given himself up earlier
because he was "confused...which agency I should surrender to". On
Wednesday Ramos ordered the police, the National Bureau of Investigation
and the military to join in tracking down Nunez. Police also reported that
two members of the Red Scorpion gang, a communist splinter group blamed by
officials for the kidnapping of American executive Michael Barnes last
January, were killed in a gunbattle with police on Thursday in Bataan
province northwest of Manila. Barnes was rescued in March. A policeman was
killed in the fighting and another injured, police said. Five members of
the gang escaped. (c) Reuters Limited
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