Military COPDs are 'offensive operations' and will be targeted - Mindanao Reds

From InterAksyon (Dec 18): Military COPDs are 'offensive operations' and will be targeted - Mindanao Reds


An NPA formation in southern Mindanao

Communist rebels in Mindanao called the Community Organizing for Peace and Development program “part of the offensive military operations of the Philippine Army” and, unless included in the month-long truce declared by the government, will be considered “legitimate military targets of the New People’s Army.”

In a statement dated December 17, Wednesday, Jorge Madlos, spokesman of the National Democratic Front in Mindanao, claimed the COPD “aims to force the populace to stop extending political support and resources to their own army, the NPA” and was “one of the main causes of abuses against basic human rights and violations against laws of war.”

It is not yet clear, however, whether the NDF-Mindanao’s position will change with the declaration by the Communist Party of the Philippines Central Committee, also on Wednesday, of a series of three brief ceasefires -- 12:01 am of December 24, 2014 to 11:59 pm of December 26, 2014, which is also the anniversary of the CPP; 12:01 am of December 31, 2014 to 11:59 pm of January 1, 2015 for New Year’s; and 12:01 am of January 15, 2015 to 11:59 pm of January 19, 2015,” the latter for the visit to the country of Pope Francis.

The government, on the other hand, declared a unilateral suspension of military offensive operations effective midnight of December 18 until midnight of January 19, covering the holiday season and papal visit.

Madlos’ statement was issued in reaction to a pronouncement he said was made by Major Christian Uy, spokesman of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, that COPD operations and rescue efforts for two soldiers captured by the rebels would continue despite the truce.

At the time it was issued, he said, “the NDFP-Mindanao still awaits the formal ceasefire declaration of the National Office of the NDFP.”
Madlos cited several reasons why the COPD was a legitimate target for rebel attack:

1. It blatantly violates the fundamental Law of War that directs all parties in a civil war not to endanger the civilian populace by placing them in the line of fire or compromise their security. COPD operations forcibly occupy community centers and public structures such as barangay halls, barangay health centers, community schools as well as individual houses of the villagers, thus, directly placing the innocent civilians in harm’s way.
2. The COPD also violates the rights of the people in the community by controlling or limiting the supplies that they are able to buy because the military suspects that any irregularity in their purchases could mean support for the NPA.
3. Through psywar (psychological warfare) or direct intimidation, threat and harassment, they forcibly recruit the men to the CAFGU, CAA or the Tribal Force.
4. They impose time limits as to when people can go and tend to their farms and when exactly to return to their homes, doubting that more time spent away from the community could mean reporting or making contact with the NPA.
5. Where COPD is in full swing, gambling, binging and illegal drugs proliferate; thievery becomes rampant.
6. Cases of rape and molestation of women, married or not, become appallingly commonplace.
7. By means of psywar tactics in interrogations, people are forced to admit they are either members or leaders of the revolutionary movement and compel them to cooperate in the effort to disintegrate revolutionary organizations in the community.
8. People are also forcibly led to join counter-revolutionary organizations such as certain lumad (indigenous people) organizations or the dreaded “alsa masa.”

The rebel spokesman said “forcible” COPD operations have also led to “the forced evacuation” of peasant and lumad communities that the military suspects to be “NPA bailiwicks.”

He said continued COPD operations during the truce would “completely deprive the NPA of mass support and maneuver areas” and would “be no different from launching offensive military operations against the NPA and the people during their SOMO.”

“And since COPD is quite expansive in the countryside all over Mindanao, it only follows that military battles shall also be widespread and intense in the island” even during the truce, Madlos warned.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/101426/military-copds-are-offensive-operations-and-will-be-targeted---mindanao-reds