Gov’t to end peace talks with communist rebels

THE chairman of the government negotiating panel with the Communist Party of the Philippines – National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF) announced yesterday that the Aquino government will no longer push peace talks. Chief government negotiator Alexander Padilla said the peace process which has been stalled for 22 months is going nowhere. “We cannot wait forever for the other side if they continually refuse to go back to the negotiating table without preconditions. The government will be taking a new approach to pursue peace,” Padilla said. He also cited “mounting violence” by the New People's Army, the armed with of the CPP-NDF on civilian targets. The announcement came more than a week after Gingoog City Vice Mayor Ruthie Guingona was wounded in an ambush that killed two of her civilian aides and wounded two police escorts. Guingona is the wife of former vice president Teofisto Guingona and mother of incumbent Sen. TG Guingona./Bencyrus Ellorin