‘WE WILL KILL THEM’; Army, police to pursue Du30 ‘kill’ order; calls for rebels to surrender intensify

 From Panay News (Mar 10, 2021): ‘WE WILL KILL THEM’; Army, police to pursue Du30 ‘kill’ order; calls for rebels to surrender intensify (By Ruby Silubrico)

“We will kill them in battle should they refuse to surrender.” The Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) based in Jamindan, Capiz declared this as it welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to the military and police to kill armed rebels.

The armed enemy should be “neutralized” by either making them surrender peacefully, capturing them or killing them in battle, according to Army Major Cenon Pancito III, 3ID spokesperson.

Duterte issued the order during the joint meeting of national and regional taskforces to end local communist armed conflict in Cagayan de Oro City on Friday.

The country’s chief executive lamented that communist insurgents continue to commit “criminal offenses such as extortion, arson, rape, and murder, among others.”

The 3ID has been actively calling all members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP–NPA) to “surrender now for tomorrow may be too late.”

“They are ready to kill for their selfish motives,” Pancito lamented. “The order of the President is clear and consistent with our current efforts.”

Duterte said he would not allow the rebels to overthrow the government, “that’s why I told the military and police that if the enemy is holding a gun during encounters, kill them right away.”

The 3ID is optimistic the rebels would be neutralized before Duterte ends his term in 2022, said Pancito.

As of December 2020, 312 villages in Western Visayas were “cleared” out of 432 barangays determined by the 3ID to have “insurgency affectation” since 2016.

Forty-nine villages in Panay Island and 71 in Negros Occidental are yet to be cleared.

On the other hand, the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) vowed to enforce the rule of law with more resolve.

“Kung makikita natin na nasa danger ang tao natin, hindi natin hayaan na mang-inflict sila ng harm. We have to fight,” said PRO-6 chief Police Brigadier General Rolando Miranda.

Meanwhile, Police Colonel Gilbert Gorero, director of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO), said they are ready to carry out the President’s instruction.

“If the rebels don’t want to be killed, they have to lay down their arms, then they can avail themselves of the government’s reintegration program,” Gorero said.

https://www.panaynews.net/we-will-kill-them-army-police-to-pursue-du30-kill-order-calls-for-rebels-to-surrender-intensify/