NPA guerrillas march through a forest. (image from http://www.cpp.ph/)
The military’s violation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels led to the ambush that left a government militiaman dead and four others wounded, the New People’s Army in eastern Mindanao said Friday.
Wednesday’s ambush, in Kapalong town, prompted Duterte to demand that the rebels explain the incident and impose sanctions on the NPA unit involved in the ambush or they could forget his offer of a ceasefire and peace talks.
However, in a statement posted on the Communist Party of the Philippines website Friday night, the Comval North Davao South Agusan Subregional Command of the NPA said the ambush “thwarted a military offensive” by the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units under the Army’s 72nd Infantry Battalion and members of the military-backed Alamara militia.
The rebel command maintained the ambush was in compliance with the order of the NPA’s National Operations Command to take an “active defense” stance in response to the unilateral ceasefire declaration Duterte issued during his first state of the national address Monday.
The Mindanao rebels accused the military of having “deceived” Duterte by claiming the militiamen were complying with the ceasefire declaration and returning to their detachment in Sitio Patil, Barangay Gupitan when ambushed.
“Nothing can be so farther from the truth,” rebel spokesman Aris Francisco said.
He said the military and Alamara “have been on active operation in Kapalong, resulting in several engagements,” including an ambush on July 5 that left a guerilla wounded.
In fact, he added, a day after Duterte’s SONA, the 72nd IB and its militia “took off for combat operations from their detachment in Barangay Patil on July 26.”
However, Francisco said, the rebels detected the military movements.
“Had the Red fighters not taken the initiative to actively defend (themselves) by intercepting the 72nd IB/Alamara troops, the operating AFP troops would have carried out (their) own combat action and inflicted damage against the NPA unit,” he said.
Francisco said Duterte, who has helped facilitate the release of government security personnel taken captive by the NPA several times, “knows well how the AFP employs the paramilitary Alamara in its counterrevolutionary and anti-people campaign.”
The Alamara is the tribal militia blamed for atrocities that have driven hundreds of lumad in the Davao region to flee their homes and seek refuge in Davao City.
Francisco stressed that the NPA “abides with the spirit of the resumption of the peace negotiations in addressing the roots of the civil war, respects the ceasefire order of GPH Pres. Duterte, and strictly adheres to the directive of the national leadership and the CPP.”
“It is the militarist clique in the AFP and its paramilitaries like the Alamara that ridicule their commander-in-chief in virulently sabotaging the peace process,” he said.
http://interaksyon.com/article/130921/militarys-violation-of-duterte-ceasefire-led-to-davao-del-norte-ambush---npa
Typical commie response. Blame the military for the incident.
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