New People’s Army rebels continue to hold an Army officer in Compostela Valley even as the government’s unilateral Christmas/New Year truce ended at midnight of Jan. 1.
The NPA promised to free Army Special Forces Lt. Vicente Cammayo on the first week of this month.
Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Army spokesman, said troops in the area would make some tactical adjustments to allow the safe release of Cammayo.
“Our troops on the ground would make some operational adjustments because the Suspension of Offensive Military Operations has already expired,” he said.
“We would just give them some leniency for the release, which they promised would be made by the first week of this month.”
Brawner said Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter Vice Mayor Sara Duterte are still negotiating with Cammayo’s captors.
“They asked us to stop military offensives in the area so they could release Cammayo, but after the SOMO expired, we could not guarantee that there wouldn’t be any combat operation,” he said.
Before Christmas, the NPA released to the Dutertes Police Officer 3 Eduardo Tumol, who was captured with Cammayo last Nov. 7.
Meanwhile, Col. Daniel Lucero, Army Civil-Military Operations commander, said the 40-year-old communist rebellion would lead to the dismemberment of the Republic.
“The Filipinos are still struggling to have a united community,” he said.
Lucero blamed the communist rebels for the government’s failure to build a united and stronger nation.
“For the country to be at par with other developed countries, the CPP-NPA-NDF should abandon the armed struggle and instead link arms with the government for the good of all Filipinos,” he said.
Lucero said the CPP has no reason to continue the class struggle as the communist ideology is already a lost cause worldwide.
“The NPAs claim to be fighting for an ideology but in reality it is more of a band of brigands extorting hard-earned resources from the people through the use of terror,” he said.
“What has made the exercise of building the Filipino nation doubly difficult is the communist insurgency which the country continues to face.”
Lucero said the communist rebellion has diverted resources needed for the country’s development.
“No government action would ever effectively put an end to insurgency for as long as there are groups out there which are fixated on fragmenting the Filipino nation instead of building it,” he said.
Communist rebels should join mainstream society and help develop the country, Lucero said. – With Jaime Laude, Roel Pareño