PHILIPPINES: Gonzales to Reds: Truce or terror tag?

By Jaime Laude

Tuesday, July 3, 2007



Manila-- National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, who assumed his post yesterday as officer-in-charge of the defense department prior to the installation of the permanent defense secretary, warned communist rebels that they would be identified as terrorists once the anti-terror law or the Human Security Act of 2007 takes effect this month.

Gonzales said the New People’s Army (NPA), however, could avoid the terrorist tag if the rebels declare a ceasefire.

“If the NPA rebels refuse to implement a ceasefire, they will be branded as terrorist like the Abu Sayyaf, Rajah Solaiman Group and the Jemaah Islamiyah,” Gonzales told reporters during turnover rites at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, attended by outgoing Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

Ebdane will later return to his old post as public works secretary after serving as defense chief since February after then Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz resigned.

Former Tarlac representative Gilbert Teodoro, the incoming defense secretary, will replace Gonzales next month.

Gonzales called on the NPA rebels to join the political mainstream instead of resorting to violence.

He ordered the military to continue efforts to defeat the communist rebels if the guerrillas refused to renounce violence.

“We will not allow the enemies of the state to deceive our people. We will stand by what we think is best for our country. And most of all I will request that quietly let’s continue to do our job,” he said.

Gonzales said communist rebels have been plotting to assassinate him and even linked him to the extrajudicial killings.

Gonzales admitted that the communist rebels have been successful in their anti-government campaign.

Leftists and militant groups have implicated Gonzales in the unexplained killings and forced disappearances of activists.

“It seems to me that we cannot be so quiet these days. The enemies of our people, the enemies of the state have been very successful in showing as if we are the ones doing wrong, when we’re offering our lives in the defense of what we know to be the best for our people, our freedom, our democracy. We are accused of extrajudicial killings. This cannot be allowed to happen,” he said.

Gonzales said that he himself is saddened by all these unexplained killings because the victims of these crimes, regardless of their political persuasion, are Filipinos.

He said that he always wanted to live a quiet life and his job as a national security adviser is just right for him.

Gonzales said the national security adviser lives in the shadows but with his appointment as defense secretary even for only one month, would make him very active in public especially during calamities since the defense chief is also chairman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), an agency that directly handles the government’s disaster and relief operations.

“We have three typhoons coming this month. So we have to prepare early. We have to pre-position relief goods and other supplies in areas frequently hit by typhoons,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ebdane said he was already happy in the defense department but being a good soldier, he has to follow the orders of the commander-in-chief.

“Frankly, personally, mas happy ako sa defense kaysa public works because I have grown up in the (military) establishment,” he said.