By Manny Mogato MANILA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Philippine Christian leaders called on the government and communist rebels on Tuesday to revive peace talks to end a near 40-year conflict and said they would take active steps in local communities to help forge a truce. Roman Catholic and various Protestant bishops told a news conference the government needed to implement genuine land reform to close a widening income gap between a small elite with large estates and millions of landless labourers. "We would really like to make sure that no more blood should be shed on both sides because we're really all brothers and sisters," said Antonio Ledesma, Roman Catholic archbishop of Cagayan de Oro City on the southern island of Mindanao. "We'll take a more active role in the communities, helping educate and raise awareness on the essential issues as well as putting more pressure on both sides to return to negotiations." Active in 69 of 81 Philippine provinces, the communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels have been waging a protracted guerrilla war that has killed more than 40,000 people and stunted economic growth. The rebels rely on the support of rural communities, which also supply them with young recruits. Start-stop peace talks were stalled in August 2004 when the government declined a request from the rebels to convince the United States and other Western European states to remove the NPA and its leader, Jose Maria Sison, from terrorist blacklists. Bishop Solito Toquero of the Methodist Church said they were working closely with Christian churches in Norway to convince the two sides to resume talks. Norway had been brokering the talks since 2001. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has vowed to crush the NPA before she steps down in mid-2010 but Church leaders called on the government to stop using "belligerent statements". "These statements are clear obstacles to pursuing peace in the country," said Sister Mary John Mananzan, head of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines. The Philippines is also battling Muslim militants in the south of the country and trying to agree a peace deal with Muslim insurgents, who want some measure of independence from the Catholic central government. Philippine security forces recently claimed they had reduced the number of communist rebels to a record low, destroying 13 NPA bases in 2007. But an internal military report, obtained by Reuters, showed they were slipping in the war. The confidential army report projected that the military could probably defeat the communist insurgency by 2018 at the earliest. (Reporting by Manny Mogato, editing by Carmel Crimmins)
Philippines Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza gestures during a Reuters interview in Quezon City Metro Manila January 17, 2008. The Philippines' drive to attract more tourists must be balanced ...
