Aquino Frees 2 Top Communists : Overrules Aides for the Sake of ‘Reconciliation’

MANILA — Two jailed leaders of the Philippine Communist Party were released Wednesday on the orders of President Corazon Aquino, who overrode the reservations of her top defense and military officials in the cause of “national reconciliation.”

The freed men are Jose Maria Sison, one-time chairman of the Communist Party, and Bernabe Buscayno, also known as Commander Dante, founder of the party’s military arm, the New People’s Army.

Two other Communist insurgents were released as well, and Aquino’s spokesman, Rene Saguisag, said military officials have been ordered not to arrest a group of other left-wing leaders now at large.

Saguisag told a press conference that the Aquino administration has received what he called “feelers” from all the insurgent groups that had taken up arms against the government of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The strength of these insurgent groups, led by the New People’s Army, is estimated at more than 15,000 people.

Seeking Accommodation

Saguisag declined to describe these overtures. But he made clear that the new Aquino government is making a concerted effort to reach some sort of accommodation quickly with the insurgents, whom he characterized as primarily “just Filipinos with grievances that are not redressed.”

“National reconciliation is paramount,” Saguisag said. “. . . All of them went to the hills because they were opposed to Mr. Marcos. We would like the government of Mrs. Aquino to be given a chance.”

A few hours after his release, Sison appeared with Buscayno and the two other freed insurgents in a room crowded with cheering nuns and students. He praised Aquino for setting him free. But he said her government still faces problems in dealing with the “legacies” of the Marcos regime, such as those loyal to Marcos within the government bureaucracy.

Has ‘Communist Spirit’

“You might say I still have the Communist spirit,” Sison said. “But I don’t think I am in the organization. I just got out of prison.” He said he plans to spend his time teaching, writing and lecturing.

Sison and two other insurgents released Wednesday, Ruben Alegre and Alexander Birondo, said they were subjected to torture while in prison.

The question of whether to release the Communist leaders had touched off a series of flip-flops by Aquino during her first week in office. It turned into a political battle between the human rights groups that backed her in her presidential campaign and the two military leaders who withdrew support from Marcos after the disputed election--Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, now the armed forces chief.

“I think every possible peaceful effort should be explored,” Enrile told reporters Wednesday. “But I also realize that the leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines are seekers of power, and they would use every means to accomplish their end.”

Changes in Policy

Last week, Aquino at first ordered the immediate release of only 39 political prisoners. A day later, after human rights groups protested that hundreds more were still in jail, the government announced that it would free all political prisoners throughout the Philippines.

Then, when military leaders demurred, the government backtracked again and said that while others would be released, the cases of four detainees, including Sison and Buscayno, would be reviewed further.

Enrile and Ramos met Tuesday night with Aquino and on Wednesday with a special government task force on detainees, including Saguisag. According to Saguisag, they expressed “concerns” that the release of the two Communist leaders “would reinforce the insurgency.”

They were said to have feared that setting Sison and Buscayno free might demoralize their troops to the point where soldiers would find it pointless to arrest insurgents.

Saguisag, who was once a human rights lawyer, acknowledged that the resistance to the release of Communist leaders was particularly strong among soldiers.

“On the way up here, I was escorted by ordinary soldiers, and they were telling me they do not want these two men to be released,” Saguisag said. “They (the soldiers) have comrades who have been killed in the field.”

Will Follow Orders

Nevertheless, Enrile and Ramos said they will follow Aquino’s orders and go along with the release. Enrile also told reporters that Philippine armed forces fighting the rebels will no longer employ the practice known as “zoning,” in which troops seal off a well-defined area and then make a thorough, house-by-house search of the inhabitants.

“That was (done) under the old command,” he said.

Aquino’s offer of reconciliation to the Communist forces was coupled with some hints of future toughness if the olive branch is not accepted.

Saguisag said the leaders now being set free may later be treated “more severely” if they act in ways “contrary to the national interest.”

Ramos pledged that the armed forces will “intensify our efforts against this insurgency power. . . . We will rely on ‘people power’ and all its capabilities.”

Enrile, too, urged the Aquino government to move quickly against the insurgents at a time when they are weakened by Marcos’ departure and before they have time to “regain their senses.”

Fulfilling Commitment

The most important factor for Aquino appears to have been her desire to fulfill a broadly worded pledge made during her election campaign to release all political prisoners. “When we were elected to office, it was assumed we would carry out this commitment,” her spokesman said. “The good faith of the administration is at stake.”

In addition, in Wednesday’s release order the Aquino government signaled its intention to invoke the ideals of liberalism and democracy against the insurgency. Asked how the government would deal with Marxist revolutionaries, Saguisag replied, “We are convinced that in the free marketplace of ideas, it (Marxism) may not sell in this country.”

The four released Communists were among 513 detainees who have been set free in the week since Marcos fled from the Philippines. The process has been slowed somewhat by the administrative requirement that political prisoners be handed over to the custody of some specific family member, friend or public figure and photographed with that person before leaving military custody.

Saguisag said this requirement was set up because in the past, under Marcos, there were instances in which individuals were said to have been released by security forces and then “simply disappeared.”

Free to Travel, Speak

There are no restrictions on the movements of the four released insurgents. They are free to travel, speak and engage in political activity. Saguisag said, however, that he felt there was an “implicit understanding” that they would not take up arms against the government that set them free.

Asked about an ambush Monday by the New People’s Army in which 18 people died, Saguisag replied, “I don’t think these four had anything to do with it. . . . Our hope is that with this development today, that will stop.”

Saguisag also said the Aquino government is forming a committee on national reconciliation to pursue the “feelers” it has received from the insurgents.

Buscayno had been in jail since 1976 and Sison since 1977. Asked by reporters whether he plans to rejoin the insurgency, Sison replied, “I wouldn’t know how to locate the rebels.” He declined to say whether he is still committed to the cause of armed struggle.

“I wouldn’t know,” he said. “I would have to study the situation.”

Wearing a necklace carrying the words “Free all the political prisoners,” Sison offered a personal tribute to Enrile, who as defense minister under Marcos helped to bring about the martial law under which Sison was arrested.

“So far, his conduct is good,” said the former Communist Party chairman. “As proof, we are here. He followed the order of the president and commander in chief.”