CPP, AFP swap truce violations charges

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jan 4): CPP, AFP swap truce violations charges

A militiaman was shot dead by communist rebels in Magpet, North Cotabato, on Thursday, the day the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) announced it was restoring the truce it had earlier recalled until Jan. 15, the police said on Friday. Senior Insp. Sunny Leoncito, Magpet police chief, said Dino Lacia, who was assigned under the 38th Infantry Battalion, was at the town’s public terminal when two men arrived and shot him around 1 p.m.

Leoncito said Lacia, a resident of Barangay Manobisa, was waiting for his two children, who were arriving from nearby Arakan town, at the public utility jeep terminal so they could spend a belated New Year’s reunion when shot from behind by the two men, who used .45 caliber pistols. “Lacia’s children traveled all the way from Arakan, about two hours away from Magpet, to be with their father for a belated New Year’s party when he was shot dead,” he said. Leoncito said Lacia died from multiple bullet wounds in the head, back and chest. “Lacia also served as a police informant on peace and security in Magpet aside from being a militiaman,” Leoncito said. He said this was probably why the militiaman was targeted for execution by the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

In Barangay Tambobong in Davao City, the 84th Infantry Battalion said NPA rebels have been violating the CPP’s declared ceasefire, which took effect Dec. 20, by restraining the movement of residents since Dec. 23.

Hostage

2Lt. Catherine Hapin, 84th IB civil-military operations officer, said at least 11 residents, including militiamen, had been taken hostage by NPA rebels under a certain Ka Bobby and remained under their custody to this day. “Some witnesses said a victim was tortured,” Hapin said in a statement. Hapin said the hostage-taking incident has prompted some civilians to flee to nearby villages. “Several residents opted not to go home for the celebration of New Year with their families upon knowing the presence of the rebel group,” she said.  Hapin said the incident had proven that the NPA do not seriously take the pronouncement of its leaders. “They do not abide by their self-proclaimed ceasefire, they do not stand by the truce that they have with the government,” Hapin said.

The NPA, which was quick to defend itself from past military criticisms, has not sent out any statement on that particular military report as of Friday. But the CPP reported various incidents of military and police violations of the government-declared ceasefire, which it viewed as “fake.” “The AFP’s ceasefire is practically a fake. The GPH peace panel members are lying through their teeth in claiming that there are no violations by the military of the GPH Somo/Sopo,” the CPP said in a statement released to the media on Friday.

The CPP said the military continues to conduct offensives in the countryside amid the government-declared truce. It reported that soldiers from the 57th and 40th Infantry Battalions have been scouring the villages of Old Bulatukan, New Israel and Biangan, all in Makilala, North Cotabato, “and put up two batteries of 105 howitzer canons against NPA Guerrilla Fronts 51 and 72 since December last year.” The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also deployed soldiers in each barangay of Paquibato District in Davao City, the CPP said.

The CPP also added that soldiers from the Army’s 69th IB and 84th IB had been intimidating residents of Calinan, also Davao City, by forcing them to pinpoint the location of the local NPA unit. “Last Dec. 21, members of the 74th IB arrested five farmers in Mulanay, Quezon, and accused them of being communist guerrillas,” the CPP said.

It added that on Dec. 25, local police forces and members of the Army’s 302nd Infantry Brigade in Manjuyod, Negros Oriental, arrested Oligario Sebas on suspicion he was Filemon Mendrez, a ranking communist leader; while police authorities in Bagumbayan in Tuguegarao City arrested a certain Rene Esmondo Abiva on Dec. 28 over a similar suspicion. “There has been practically no ceasefire on the part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines over the past two weeks despite the order of the Aquino government for a suspension of offensive military and police operations from Dec. 16 to Jan. 2,” the CPP said.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/335265/cpp-afp-swap-truce-violations-charges