NPA sets more attacks on wide scale

From the Manila Standard Today (Dec 27): NPA sets more attacks on wide scale

Malacañang has ordered the Armed Forces to remain vigilant despite a 27-day ceasefire agreement with the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front-New Peoples’ Army. The government made the statement on Wednesday after the CPP ordered the NPA to launch “more frequent tactical offensives on a wide scale” as it marked its 44th anniversary. “In the process, we must seize more arms from the enemy and increase the number of NPA fighting units. The NPA level of armed strength must reach 25,000 in order to advance from the strategic defensive to the strategic stalemate,” it said on a statement.

The CPP’s statement came on the heels of a two-day meeting in Oslo for a possible resumption of the peace talks which have been stalled for close to two years since the government panel and the NDF, the CPP’s political arm, last met in February 2011. The fresh directive from the communist group stood in contrast with the statement made by presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles who said that an “indefinite truce” can be reached soon.

“Our AFP remains vigilant even if there is a suspension of military offensives,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said. “We expect no less from the leadership of CPP-NPA-NDF to download the information on the ceasefire to their ground troops. We expect that the ceasefire will be observed,” he added. The ceasefire with communist rebels, which started on December 20, will last until January 15, 2013. In ordering the truce, the CPP said the ceasefire was being issued “in solidarity with the Filipino people’s traditional celebrations of Christmas and New Year holidays.”

But since the truce started, both the government and the communists accused each other of violating the agreement. The military said the communists twice violated the truce, with the most recent one happening in a recent clash between government and rebel troops in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta said the NPA fired on soldiers who were merely “facilitating” the surrender of a rebel at Bayotbot village on Thursday last week. Mabanta said no one was reported killed or injured on both sides as the soldiers and the rebels were far from one another.

Meanwhile, government forces arrested on Tuesday the sixth most wanted man in the country, ranking NPA leader Filemon Mendrez in Negros Oriental on Tuesday. Mendrez, who has a P5.25 million bounty on his head, was facing several criminal and rebellion cases in local courts. He was a former head of Front Committee 2 of the NPA before becoming the deputy head of the CPP Central Visayas Regional Party Committee.

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