08/17/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10073

NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY TERRORISTS

The U.S. State Department has designated the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the so-called New People's Army, as a foreign terrorist organization. In addition, the United States government has added the C-P-P/N-P-A and its leader, Jose Maria Sison, to its financial assets freeze list. This brings to two-hundred-fourteen the number of organizations and individuals linked to terrorism that have financial assets frozen by the U.S.

The Communist Party of the Philippines was founded in 1969 with the aim of overthrowing the Philippine government by violence. C-P-P and its armed wing, the N-P-A, has personally directed the targeting of U-S citizens. In an order published in Ang Bayan, the main publication of C-P-P, Sison ordered the N-P-A to "inflict severe casualties" on U-S soldiers participating in joint exercises with the Philippines military.

The N-P-A has targeted Americans before. In April 1974, it murdered three U-S naval officers. Between 1987 and 1994, it killed ten Americans, civilians and military personnel and attacked American businesses.

Most of the victims of the N-P-A have been Filipinos. These include mayors and local officials, Philippines military personnel, police officers, and journalists. Last year, the N-P-A assassinated a Philippine Congressman from Cagayan.

C-P-P/N-P-A terrorism is largely financed by robbery, extortion, and kidnapping.

The U.S. has provided assistance to the Philippines to enhance the ability of its military to stop terrorist groups such as the N-P-A and the Abu Sayyaf group. Over the next year, U.S. Military instructors will assist in training two additional Philippine Army Light Reaction companies -- elite units specializing in hostage rescue and counter-terrorism operations.

Terrorism in the Philippines threatens people everywhere. As President Bush said, "Every civilized nation has a part in this struggle, because every civilized nation has a stake in its outcome. There can be no peace in a world where differences and grievances become an excuse to target the innocent for murder. In fighting terror we fight for the conditions that will make a lasting peace possible."