THE New People’s Army (NPA) is still waiting for instructions from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on how to reinstate its unilateral cease-fire.
NPA Spokesman Jorge Madlos, in a statement issued late on Tuesday, said the NPA National Operations Command (NOC) “welcomes and supports the March 12, 2017, joint statement issued by the negotiating panels of the National Democratic Front and the government.”
The joint statement reaffirmed the commitment of the two parties to continue the peace negotiations that had been suspended after President Duterte ordered the government panel to go home, after scrapping his unilateral cease-fire and declaring the termination of the peace talks.
Duterte also declared the scrapping of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig) after the NPA informed the government panel on February 1 that it was lifting its unilateral cease-fire effective on February 10.
Madlos said the NPA announcement was triggered by the failure of the government to stop the deployment of soldiers as Peace and Development Teams of Internal Peace and Security Plan Kapayapaan in more than 500 villages nationwide.
Moreover, Duterte failed to release more than 400 political prisoners as he had promised, while the NPA was releasing six soldiers, policemen and paramilitary men under its custody, he added.
Until the orders for the reinstatement of the unilateral cease-fire is made, Madlos reiterated, “the NPA is ready to confront and counter the offensives of the Armed Forces in order to defend the people, especially the peasant masses and minority groups, from the abuses being perpetrated by the military.”
Madlos also disclosed that “since President Duterte’s order on March 9 to ‘flatten the hills’, the military has become even more frenzied in its war against the NPA.”
Last Saturday the Air Force conducted aerial strikes against rebel positions in Cabuyuan, Mabini, Compostela Valley, using at least three MG-520 helicopter gunships as ground troops raked the barangay with automatic fire.
At least 75 families, comprised of 200 individuals, were forced to evacuate owing to the attack, Madlos said.
“For two days now, the Air Force has been conducting bombing runs in Barangays Gawang, Tee and Andavit in Datu Salibo, Maguindanao, using FA-50 jetfighters and MG-520 helicopter gunships. At least 3,000 families have been forced to evacuate their homes to escape the bombings and militarization of their communities,” Madlos added.
“The Armed Forces has also threatened to conduct aerial bombing in Assipulo, Ifugao, and Maddela, Quirino, in Luzon, forcing hundreds of families to evacuate,” Madlos also said.
“The NPA calls on President Duterte to restrain the military and command it to stop its campaign against the NPA in order to prepare the ground for a meaningful cease-fire in line with the continuation of peace talks,” Madlos added.