Palace condemns NPA attacks but Yule truce stays
The government will maintain the three-week Yuletide truce declared by President Arroyo despite the New People’s Army (NPA)’s raid on a police station in a remote town in
It was the second NPA attack on government troops since Mrs. Arroyo announced the unilateral ceasefire last Dec. 16.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the latest attack shows that the NPA has no regard for human life.
“This attack that came despite the declaration by the government of the SOMO (suspension of offensive military operations) and the Christmas season is condemnable and un-Christian,” he said in a telephone interview.
Ermita said the National Democratic Front, the umbrella organization of mainstream communist movements, might be trying to make a show of force as the 39th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) tomorrow approaches.
“With what they’re doing, they only continue to prove that they are indeed terrorists,” he said.
For its part, the military doubts the NPA’s sincerity in declaring a four-day holiday truce as it has not been observing the government-declared ceasefire.
Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, AFP public information chief, said the military has taken a “wait and see” attitude on the ceasefire announced by the NPA.
“AFP units will continue to be vigilant, as we observe the SOMO,” he said. “AFP units will be ready to respond to any threat.”
In a statement, Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano said that the NPA-declared holiday truce is a “reactionary move meant to show a semblance of humanity.”
“It is however an insincere gesture given the standing order to intensify attacks against the government and civilians,” he said.
“We view the NPA offer as a treacherous ploy meant to create a false sense of security among soldiers and policemen so that they can carry out their offensives.”
Maj. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang, Armed Forces Northern Luzon chief, said that the NPA committed a “major blunder” when its leaders ordered a series of tactical offensives despite the suspension of military operations by Mrs. Arroyo.
“The latest ceasefire declaration of the NPA is a desperate effort to atone for their sins against the people who wanted peace,” he said.
The NPA’s “ill-timed” tactical offensives against the military and police have backfired and clearly demonstrated its callousness with regards to the desire of the people for lasting peace, Maclang said.
In declaring a four-day ceasefire, CPP spokesman Gregorio Rosal said as “a matter of policy and tradition,” the NPA’s guns will be silent on Dec. 24-25 and on Dec. 31-
“The NPA practices unilateral military restraint on the eve and days of Christmas and New Year, even if there is no formal declaration of a ceasefire,” he said.
“As practiced for many years, the Filipino people, their people’s army and revolutionary forces, unite in humble traditional holiday celebrations and in the commemoration of the anniversary of the Communist Party which falls on Dec. 26.”
However, Rosal said the NPA will remain alert against “enemy operations, and, if provoked, fend off or repulse its fascist offensives.”
“All units of the NPA are instructed to closely monitor the movements of the AFP, maintain vigilance, be on active defense and decisively counter all forms of treachery by the fascist armed forces,” he said.
“The need to intensify the people’s war remains as the Arroyo regime relentlessly pursues its brutal war of terror.”
Last Sunday, about 100 NPA guerrillas swooped down on the police station in Hinabangan,
Three hours after Mrs. Arroyo suspended military operations on Dec. 16, an NPA band ambushed three unarmed Marines who were on their way to the market in San Vicente,
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