The military will not recommend a cessation in its operations against the New People’s Army (NPA) this holiday season, even as the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported that its forces killed five rebels and bagged another one in two separate raids in Mindanao and Cagayan.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said they are not inclined to recommend to President Duterte a halt in their operations against the rebels for the upcoming Christmas and New Year due to the past experiences of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) where cease-fires were allegedly breached by the NPA.
“The AFP—wishing and longing for a peaceful Yuletide season for the Filipino people notwithstanding—will not recommend to the Commander-in-Chief a holiday cease-fire with the Communist Terrorist Group [CTG],” Arevalo said in a news statement issued on Thursday.
“Many times in the past, the CTG has shown it’s incapacity for sincerity and for being unfaithful to a covenant,” he added. “This was the AFP’s painful experience where the CTG reneged from their own cease-fire declaration by attacking and killing soldiers on humanitarian and peace and development missions.”
The military and the rebels usually observe a cease-fire during the holiday season, with the former declaring a “suspension of offensive military operations [SOMO],” which the rebels reciprocate with their own cease-fire, although both forces still observes a defensive stance. Even the PNP also observes a truce through a suspension of offensive police operations [SOPO].
Arevalo said that during the effectivity of a cease-fire, the rebels go on with their activities and uses it to “regroup, refurbish, recruit new members, and recoup their losses.”
Still, he said, that the military leadership will follow President Duterte’s orders on the issue of a cease-fire with the NPA.
“Amidst this strong position, AFP chief General Gilbert Gapay assures the President of the AFP’s support to whatever decision the Commander-in-Chief makes in his exercise of his prerogatives,” Arevalo said.
In South Cotabato, five rebels, including two bomb experts were killed during a firefight with a composite team of policemen who were serving a warrants of arrest against members of the Guerilla Front 53 of the NPA’s Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC) at Sitio Kibang, Barangay Ned, Lake Sebu at around 4:35 a.m. on Wednesday.
A report sent to PNP chief General Debold Sinas said members of the Lake Sebu Municipal Police Station and South Cotabato Police Provincial Office were serving warrants against the rebels accused of murder, frustrated murder and attempted murder when they were fired upon, triggering a firefight.
Killed during the operation were Bernie Canyon alias Delmar, commanding officer of ordnance platoon; Rogelio Magsaya alias Sargs, and Delio, vice commanding officer of the Pulang Bagani Command; Romeo Hebron alias Frank, and Melvin, head of Regional Ordnance, SMRC and two identified only as “Ka Mercy” and “Mckoy.”
The operating team recovered an M-16 rifle, a Carbine, a .45 caliber pistol, a .40 caliber pistol and homemade bombs and components.
In Cagayan Valley, operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Police Regional Office-2 served two search warrants for violation of RA 10591 (Illegal Possession of Firearms) and RA 9516 (Illegal Possession of Explosives), both issued by Judge Sheila C. Gacutan-Labuguen of the Municipal Trial Court of Baggao, Cagayan against Amanda Socorro Echanis alias Waya, and Julian in Barangay Carupian, Baggao.
During the search, the operating team reportedly recovered an M-16 rifle, two hand grenades and at least two magazines for M-16 rifle.
As a result, Echanis was arrested and was later identified by the police as a finance officer of West Front of the NPA’s Komiteng Probinsya ng Cagayan (KOMPROB) Cagayan.
Echanis, 32, is a daughter of the late National Democratic Front peace consultant and Anakpawis chairman Randall Echanis who was brutally murdered inside his apartment in Quezon City several months back.
The human-rights group Karapatan, through its Secretary-General Cristina Palabay, had denounced the arrest, saying the evidence were planted and Echanis was with her one-month-old baby when arrested.
“Karapatan denounces the recent arrest of 32-year-old Amanda Echanis, a woman peasant organizer of Amihan, a federation of women peasants, in Cagayan and the planting of evidence against her,” the group said in a news statement.
“Similar search warrants were used in the raid in the house of peasant leader Isabelo Adviento of Danggayan, a chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in Cagayan Valley at around the same time that house where Amanda was staying was raided. Adviento was not in his home at the time of the raid, but his wife was there, and she recounted how authorities forcibly entered the premises of their residence, forced all those in the house to go out and planted firearms and grenades in their living room. Richard Dagohoy of the Baggao Farmers Association was accosted and handcuffed during the said operations in Brgy. Carupian but was later set free by the authorities,” the group added.
Karapatan noted that the arrest of Echanis and the raids in Cagayan came “amid the red-tagging spree and counterinsurgency operations by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, which resulted in the numerous cases of illegal or arbitrary arrests, detention, extrajudicial killings and many other rights violations.”