A review of the constitution of the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa- Pilipinas may be needed to determine who are the legitimate leaders of the group, Presidential Adviser for Western Visayas Rafael Coscolluela said yesterday.

Hopefully, this will help resolve the leadership crisis within the RPM-P and its armed wing - Revolutionary Proletarian Army- Alex Boncayao Brigade, Coscolluela said. Secretary Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser of the Peace Process, said the government does not want to see a disruption of the peace efforts it has agreed to undertake together with the RPM-P-RPA-ABB, because of a conflict among its leaders.

In a congress held in Negros Occidental, the RPM-P that elected Ka Fidel Nava as its new chairman, unanimously approved the expulsion of Nilo de la Cruz and eight other central committee members, RPA-ABB national commander Carapali Lualhati said.

De la Cruz said that, in a party plenum in April, Lualhati, Veronica Tabara, party secretary general, and Ariel Sabandar, head of the party's Mindanao command, had been expelled from the movement.

CPP spokesman Gregorio Rosal, in a statement, accused Lualhati of receiving "retainers fee" from business tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco, for protecting his business interest in Negros, and two mining firms - Maricalum Mining Company and Philex Gold - in southern Negros.

Rosal further claimed that the RPA-ABB was also behind the killing of Task Force Mapalad members, organizers of the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers, and the abduction of militant activists Nilo Arado and Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado in Panay on April 10.*GPB

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