(Eagle News) — Communist rebels admitted to have conducted at least 20 actions against Philippine government forces, targetting even those conducting peace and community development activities in the last five days amid a supposed ceasefire as part of the New People’s Army’s (NPA’s) alleged “active defense posture” against the government.
In a statement released by NPA Spokesperson Oris Madlos, it said that the rebel group made their attacks on soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, particularly those under the “peace and development teams” of Oplan Kapayapaan (Peace)
The NPA denounced the presence of military troops under the AFP’s “Oplan Kapayapaan” admitting that they attacked soldiers doing community development work.
This was contradictory to an earlier order issued by communist leader and National Democratic Front chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili on Wednesday that the NPA rebels would only fight back if provoked.
The NPA’s statement on Friday, February 3, claimed that they attacked military troops even if they were helping in community development work in barrios.
“Most of the NPA military actions have targetted the so-called “peace and development teams” of armed troops of the AFP which have entrenched themselves at village centers, usually making use of barangay halls, day care centers and public schools as their barracks,” NPA spokesperson Oris Madlos said in a statement.
“Units and commands of the New People’s Army (NPA) have carried out at least 20 military actions across the country over the past five days in response to the clamor of the people to defend their rights and welfare against fully-armed occupation troops of the AFP,” the NPA’s statement said.
The NPA claimed it had “successful active defense manuevers in the provinces of Agusan, Surigao and Davao; as well as in Bukidnon and Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao, Isabela and Batangas in Luzon and in Panay in the Visayas.”
“This active defense posture is but an inevitable consequence of the Duterte government’s obduracy and duplicity in continuing offensive operations under then Oplan Bayanihan and presently Oplan Kapayapaan in violation of the spirit of the ceasefire declarations reciprocally declared by the GRP and the NDFP. The AFP has refused to heed repeated calls for withdrawal of their troops,” the NPA statement read.
“At least five AFP soldiers have been captured and are being treated as POWs. A number of AFP officers and men have been killed and wounded in the armed attacks,” the NPA statement said.
One of those slain by the NPA rebels was a junior army officer, 2nd Lieutenant Miguel Victor Alejo, who was part of a team from the Manay police and 67th Infantry Battalion responding to a complaint of extortion and harassment when they were ambushed by alleged NPA rebels.
The NPA accused the AFP of trying to “gain sympathy” from the people in the barrios claimed by the NPA as their territory. The communist insurgents also disliked the military’s attempt to “deliver social services” to the people in the barrios, claiming that this was already encroaching on the NPA’s “guerilla zones.”
“The AFP desperately wants to gain sympathy by spreading the lie that the presence of these teams have been ‘requested’ by barangay officials, when in fact, they just intimidate local officials to sign blank papers. They also spread the lie that soldiers are bringing relief goods or carrying out relief operations. They make use of so-called “delivery of social services” to forward deploy their troops within the guerrilla zones of the NPA.
“In line with this, the NPA urges the AFP and the Duterte regime to pull out all its troops from more than 500 barrios before February 10. If it does so, together with the release of all political prisoners, it may preempt the complete termination of the unilateral ceasefire declaration of the CPP and NPA,” the NPA’s statement read.
NPA blamed for peace debacle
President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday lifted the government’s ceasefire with the communist rebels, citing the rebel group’s killings of soldiers in the last couple of days even if the ceasefire was still supposedly in effect, and the communists’ demands that were “too huge and impossible to meet.”
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also blamed the communist rebels for the breakdown in the peace talks, saying the NPA rebels continued with their extortion, abduction and attacks on government forces that he said caused the deaths of civilians and soldiers.
He blamed the violence instigated by the rebels as the reason the “promising start to achieving peace has ended.”
Armed Forces Chief General Eduardo Año, also welcomed the President’s lifting of the ceasefire.
“We will go after the NPA to prevent them from conducting atrocities and criminal activities against the public. And we will hit them hard,” Gen. Eduardo Año, said in a statement.
“The last 4 days were disdainful and disturbing. While Fidel Agcaoilli was assuring the public thru media that NDF-CPP-NPA will continue the unilateral ceasefire, the CPP/NPA were attacking our soldiers who were doing community support and development work,” said Año.
