MANILA, Philippines Malacañang Palace frowned Saturday on a proposal by exiled rebel leader Jose Ma. Joma" Sison for the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to join forces with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez Jr. said anyone who joins such an alliance will violate a "shared responsibility" to work for progress.
"Ang kapayapaan ang pagiging progresibong Pilipinas is a shared responsibility. Lahat na sector dapat magsama-sama. Kung tataliwas sila sa shared responsibility gaya ng pagsanb sa grupong di kinikilalang organisasyon na tumutulak ng kapayapaan kawawa ang ating bayan (A peaceful and progressive country is a shared responsibility. All sectors must work together. If people will turn their backs on this shared responsibility, they are sacrificing the nation)," he said on government-run dzRB radio.
On Friday, Sison urged the MILF to join forces with the CPP's National Democratic Front of the Philippines, saying they have a common enemy in the Arroyo government.
Sison also said the MILF should start fighting the government, which he said used the peace process as its latest vehicle to push for Charter change.
The MILF, which is fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines, was scheduled to sign with the government a memorandum of agreement delineating the areas to be covered by a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity. To allow such arrangement, the Philippine Constitution, has to be amended to allow such arrangement.
Critics, however, accused President Arroyo of trying to use the peace negotiations with the MILF to rewrite the Philippine Constitution to perpetuate herself to power, as the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos did in the 70s before his term of office expired. - GMANews.TV