The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) has accused the military and police forces of violating their own cease-fire declaration in a letter sent to the United Nations, even as a member of the New People’s Army (NPA) was killed in a firefight in Bicol while communist supporters yielded in Northern Luzon.
In a letter submitted to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Luis Jalandoni, member of the executive committee and national council of the NDFP, alleged that government forces carried out attacks across the country while it was observing its own declared cease-fire until April 15 amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The BusinessMirror sought for a reaction from the military about Jalandoni’s allegations but it has yet to receive any response from military officials, particularly from Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo.
Jalandoni is also the chief negotiator of the NDFP, the umbrella organization of democratic forces in the country that included the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and its armed wing, the NPA, in its scuttled peace talks with the Philippine government.
Jalandoni claimed in a news statement released by the NDFP’s international office that both the police and the military carried out offensive operations from March 16, 2020, up to April 15, 2020, in “196 villages of 96 towns” in the country in “gross violation of their own unilateral cease-fire declaration.”
Citing reports from the CPP’s information bureau, Jalandoni told Guterres that the military staged 13 attacks, or “assaults, against the NPA” and carried out “at least five aerial bombardment and artillery shelling in the 96 towns and 196 villages that he did not mention.
“The offensive operations by the soldiers and police forces of the GRP [Government of the Republic of the Philippines] are in defiance of the UN Secretary-General’s appeal,” Jalandoni told Guterres, referring to the latter’s earlier appeal for warring groups across the globe to lay down their weapons and concentrate instead in battling the pandemic.
In response to the appeal of the top UN official, the CPP declared its own cease-fire which lasted until March 15, the same day that Jalandoni submitted his letter to Guterres.
“Despite the GRP violation of their own unilateral cease-fire, the health committees and revolutionary forces of the entire NDFP continue to carry out programs for the health, welfare and safety of the Filipino masses where the NDFP operates. Although the NPA refrains from undertaking attacks against GRP armed forces, it observes an active defense policy to protect the communities from serious violations of the GRP armed forces,” Jalandoni said.
“On the other hand, the NPA has complied fully with the unilateral cease-fire order of the Communist Party of the Philippines, in response to the humanitarian appeal of the UN Secretary-General for parties involved in armed conflicts to declare a global cease-fire,” he added.
In Sorsogon, meanwhile, a rebel was killed on Thursday during a firefight between the NPA and joint elements of the Army’s 31st Infantry Battalion and the police’s 1stand 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Companies at Sitio Tongdol, Barangay Gabao, and Irosin town.
Capt. John Paul Belleza, spokesman of the 9th Infantry Division, said the soldiers and policemen were on security operations when they clashed with the rebels for about 10 minutes at around 7:40 a.m.
He said the operating troops killed one rebel and recovered an M-16 rifle, several anti-personnel mines and rebel documents.
In Dingalan, Aurora, 16 communist front organization members and rebel supporters yielded to the government on Wednesday through the joint effort of the police, military intelligence agents and the 91st Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Reandrew Rubio.
The surrender, wherein four short firearms were also surrendered, was personally witnessed by officials led by Dingalan Mayor Sherwin Taay.
Col. Andrew Costelo, commander of the 703rd Infantry Brigade, said the surrender would greatly contribute to the sustainment of peace and development in Aurora while the government deals with the Covid-19.
In Batangas, Lamberto Asinas, the alleged regional intelligence officer of the NPA’s Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee was apprehended on Thursday in Barangay Bunducan, Nasugbu, by joint police and military forces.
Asinas, alias Baste yielded a .45 caliber pistol, ammunitions, a hand grenade, a laptop, a mobile phone and rebel document.
Maj. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos, commander of the 2nd Infantry Division, said Asinas was the 11th high-value target from the NPA who had been “neutralized” since 2019.