Manila Reports 5 Killed as Rebels, Troops Clash

MANILA —  Five people, including an 8-year-old girl, were killed as rebels and soldiers exchanged fire on a lonely country road, the Philippine military said Wednesday.

Nemesio Dimafiles, leader of the rebel New People’s Army in the central province of Negros Occidental, where the army said the gunfight took place, said he knew nothing of the reported incident.

The encounter, if verified, would be the deadliest breach of the cease-fire between the military and the rebels that began Dec. 10.

Military spokesmen in the provincial town of Cauayan said the rebels opened fire on a group of soldiers preparing to go on patrol in the nearby village of Talacan. The soldiers returned the fire, killing three rebels.

Two Civilians Killed

Also killed in the crossfire were two civilians, including the 8-year-old girl, they said.

Meanwhile, the armed forces chief of staff, Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, reported 12 possible violations by the New People’s Army since the truce began and said it is “still too early” to tell whether the truce would hold through the Christmas season.

Ramos made his report to President Corazon Aquino and Defense Minister Rafael Ileto at the presidential palace in Manila. The violations included the killing of four civilians at a dance Saturday night in the town of Ligao, 200 miles south of Manila, Ramos said.

The government and the Communist rebels turned to the country’s senior Roman Catholic clergymen Wednesday to organize the monitoring of their uneasy truce.

Twelve clergymen, all either bishops or archbishops, were named to set up regional committees to monitor violations of the 60-day cease-fire agreement.

Military Represented

Alice Villadolid, spokeswoman of a government panel that negotiated the cease-fire, said regional military commanders from the country’s 12 districts would sit on the committees as government nominees.

The Communist-dominated National Democratic Front has so far named five of its representatives to the committees and will name seven more over the next two days.

A dozen violations of the first cease-fire in the 17-year-old guerrilla war have been reported so far, and both sides have accused each other of mounting propaganda wars and inventing violations.

Aquino, in an interview published Wednesday, said it is almost impossible for the truce to be totally effective.

Aquino Sees ‘Positive Effect’

“It is almost impossible for the cease-fire to work 100%,” she told the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais.

“But if we manage to implant it in most areas of the country, it will have a positive effect on economic development. . . . You must not forget that the insurgency and the economic situation are closely related,” she added.

Meanwhile, ousted Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile said Wednesday that the rebels achieved a political victory in agreeing to the two-month cease-fire but are still incapable of toppling the government.

Enrile, in his first major speech since being dismissed by Aquino last month after officers loyal to him planned a coup, said he does not believe that the cease-fire will bring peace to the country.

More Political Exposure

“What they (the rebels) have gained is a stronger political exposure,” Enrile told a meeting of women members of the Nacionalista Party, which he has joined.

“What they achieved is a political victory. . . . They have acquired a stronger political presence,” he said.

“They have projected themselves to the public that they are a peace-loving group, that they have no intention of destroying the freedom of the people, that they are there to do something good and constructive for the nation,” he added.

“Militarily, they have not really gained much. . . . I don’t think they can take over the country. The military organization of the republic is still strong.”