The Davao City-based Eastern Mindanao Command (EMC) on
Sunday expressed its support to President Rodrigo Duterte's call for the New
People's Army (NPA) to stop its landmine attacks or else there will be no peace
talks.
"We support the call of the President (Rodrigo Roa
Duterte) to (the rebels) to stop using landmines (as these) are inhuman and
(indiscriminate) to hitting innocent bystanders," EMC public affairs
office chief Major Ezra Balagtey said to the PNA.
He also called the rebels' continued use of landmines and
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) a violation of the Comprehensive Agreement
on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHIHL), which
it signed together with the Government of the Philippines
"(Landmine and IEDs usage of the NPAs) is a violation
of the CARHIHL which they claim to adhere to," Balagtey added.
It is clearly agreed upon in the CARHIHL that civilians
shall be distinguished from combatants, shall not be the object of attacks, and
shall be protected against the use of landmines.
Duterte issued early Sunday morning an ultimatum against
communist rebels’ use of landmines and demanded inclusion of the battlefield
issue in the peace talks or else the negotiations are off.
“Either you stop it or we stop talking,” the President said.
In the said landmine attacks, four soldiers were killed
while 10 others were wounded in two separate incidents in Compostela Valley
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=911362
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