Manila, Dec 5 (AFP) Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertetoday declared communist rebels "terrorists", his spokesmansaid, weeks after cancelling peace talks with groups wagingone of Asia's longest-running insurgencies.
In an attempt to boost negotiations, Duterte last yearfreed top rebel leaders from prison and met them at thepresidential palace, but the peace process quickly souredafter deadly attacks against soldiers and police angered thepresident.
Duterte signed an order Tuesday declaring two communistgroups "terrorist organisations", but it would require courtapproval to go into effect, his spokesman Harry Roque toldreporters.
The classification targets the Communist Party of thePhilippines (CPP) and its 3,800-member armed wing, and the NewPeople's Army (NPA), accusing them of "continued violentacts".
The Tuesday order follows a 2002 US classification of thetwo groups as "foreign terrorist organisations".
Communist rebels have been waging an insurgency in thePhilippines since 1968 to overthrow what they call acapitalist system that has created one of Asia's biggestrich-poor divides.
Peace talks to end the conflict -- which the militarysays has claimed 30,000 lives -- have been held on and off forthree decades.
Duterte's election last year revived hopes for successfulnegotiations as the president is a self-declared socialist whohas said it is his "dream" to forge peace in the country.
But he cancelled peace talks in November after a rebelambush in the southern Philippines killed a police officer anda four-month-old baby.
Duterte has also accused the communists of plotting withhis political rivals to destabilise his rule.
He has since ordered the arrest of more than a dozenrebel leaders freed last year, and has threatened to shut downmining companies that yield to insurgents' demands for money.
Roque said Tuesday's order would allow the military andthe police to crack down on people funding the rebels.
The military said the declaration would also make itsoperations against the insurgents "more effective".
"We can now address without any hesitation and with allthe means and resources available to us the increasingcriminal and economic sabotage activities of theseterrorists," military spokesman Major-General RestitutoPadilla said.
Chief rebel negotiator Fidel Agcaoili of the NationalDemocratic Front -- a group linked with the communist rebelsbut not targeted by Duterte Tuesday -- denied that the NPA wasa terrorist group.
But he said the communists would not question thedeclaration in court.(AFP)AMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.