Malacañang wants senator sanctioned for talking with Reds

Malacañang on Monday asked the Senate leadership to impose sanctions against opposition Sen. Ana Consuelo “Jamby" Madrigal for signing a joint communiqué with exiled leaders of the National Democratic Front (NDF) calling for the resumption of negotiations in anticipation of the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. “There is no other way of describing Sen. Madrigal’s inappropriate action but as a betrayal of the trust given to her by the Filipino people as an elected public official. She cannot masquerade as a peace advocate," Presidential Spokesman and concurrent Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said. Bunye said Madrigal’s action was that of a “desperate traditional politician" engaged in a dark conspiracy with the “enemies of the Constitution." Bunye added Madrigal "is straddling positions between the democratic Republic and the revolutionary left just to satisfy self-serving ends." "We hope that the Senate would take action on this matter as we leave it to the Justice department to study the possible legal actions against her," he said. Late last month, Madrigal met with NDF leaders Jose Maria Sison, Luis Jalandoni and Fidel Agcaoili in The Netherlands to discuss the resumption of the stalled negotiations in the event the President is ousted. They subsequently issued a joint communiqué focusing on the said discussion. On Monday, Jalandoni reiterated their call for the resumption of negotiations in the wake of the government’s renewed campaign against the communist insurgents. In a statement sent to news organizations, Jalandoni said the government’s all-out war policy is not the answer to the insurgency problem “but in fact will lead to further economic ruin and further escalate human rights violations and will create more internally displaced persons consisting mostly of women, elderly and children." Jalandoni also took note that close to 700 extra-judicial killings – over a hundred of whom are members of leftist organizations - and more than 180 involuntary disappearances have occurred since President Arroyo assumed power in January 2001. Jalandoni is chief negotiator of the NDF. Talks between the government and the NDF remain stalled since August 2004 when the communists’ accused Manila of not exerting efforts in convincing the United States and its western allies in removing the CPP-NPA-NDF from their list of terrorist organizations. On June 16, the President ordered the release of P1 billion as funds aimed at crushing the communist insurgency in two years’ time. - GMANews.TV