Rebel-infested N. Samar village formally rejects NPA

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 1, 2022): Rebel-infested N. Samar village formally rejects NPA (By Sarwell Meniano)

NO TO NPA. Residents in Northern Samar join a peace rally in Catubig town denouncing the New People's Army (NPA) in this Feb. 25, 2022 event. Residents of Roxas village in Catubig town, whose officials declared the communist terrorist group as persona non grata, joined the rally. (Photo courtesy of Philippine Army 20th Infantry Battalion)

An upland village in Catubig, Northern Samar affected by the New People’s Army's (NPA) five decades of armed struggle has declared the communist terrorist group persona non grata.

The remote Roxas village issued the declaration three weeks after two minors died and two others were wounded when the NPA ambushed patrolling soldiers in their area.

The children identified as Andre Mercado, 12, and Leandro Alivio, 13, were in the area to gather coconuts and were talking to government troops before the NPA’s indiscriminately fired on them.

The Philippine Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion (20th IB) on Tuesday said the village formally rejected the NPA through a resolution by village officials on February 28.

“For the past 53 years of fighting against the government, the Communist Party of the Philippine (CPP)-NPA- National Democratic Front (NDF) proved nothing but their true color along with their lies and deceptions; brought nothing but atrocities which for so long only threatens the security and development of Barangay Roxas, Catubig, Northern Samar,” the 20th IB said in a statement.

The army said the communist terrorist group only sow fear and hatred in the remote community, capitalizing on the members of the local populace to support their underground activities such as extortion, killing of civilians, burning of properties, and recruitment of child warriors.

Roxas villagers were among the 700 protesters who joined the peace rally on Feb. 25, denouncing the NPA at the Catubig municipal auditorium.

Also present were residents of the towns of Catubig, Las Navas, Lope de Vega, San Isidro, and Mondragon in Northern Samar.

The event highlighted the condemnation of various International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations of the CPP-NPA-NDF such as burning of civilian properties, willful killing, and intentionally directing attacks against civilians, among others.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The NDF has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1168762