The Philippine government said it refused to be intimidated by local communists opposing Manila's joint military exercises with U.S. forces in the south of the country. Presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said that Netherlands-based Philippine Communist Party chief Jose Maria Sison had ordered his group's front organizations last week to "vigorously oppose and resist" the joint training, dubbed Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder). "Sison has ordered his organizations to drop everything and focus on anti-Balikatan propaganda war," Tiglao said in a statement. "He has also asked his agitators in pickets to provoke the police to violence in order to gain public sympathy for his demonstrators.
They'll probably hire Ramsey Clark at some point. Seems, though, like the commies would have a lot to lose if the fundos got a firm foothold in the area. |