Bayan urges Duterte to demilitarize rural communities for Christmas
December 20, 2017 | 10:48am
In this photo provided by the Presidential Photographers Division, Malacanang Palace, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center, clad in a camouflage uniform prepares to board a helicopter from an undisclosed place to visit troops in Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, July 20, 2017. Duterte flew for the first time Thursday to the besieged southern city to cheer troops who have been trying to quell a nearly two-month uprising by Islamic State group-linked militants, who he warned were plotting to attack other cities. Second from right is Armed Forces Chief Gen. Eduardo Ano. Ace Morandante/Presidential Photographers Division, Malacanang Palace via AP
MANILA, Philippines — Progressive group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Wednesday dared President Rodrigo Duterte to order the pull out of military troops in the rural communities to show his sincerity in declaring a unilateral ceasefire with the communist rebels this Christmas season.
“The declaration should translate to the demilitarization of rural communities and for displaced people to be able to return to their homes during the holidays,” Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes said in a text message.
Reyes made the statement after Duterte declared on Wednesday a suspension of military operations against the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army from Dec. 24, 2017 to Jan. 2, 2018.
Just recently, Duterte said he has ordered the police and the military to shoot armed NPA rebels. The president also signed early this month an executive order declaring the NPA as a terrorist group.
Bayan and human rights group Karapatan have earlier said that most of the human rights abuses in the countryside were perpetrated by state forces under the guise of the administration's counter-insurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan.
Bayan and Karapatan said most of the victims of extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses such as torture, arbitrary arrest and detention allegedly by the military, were leaders and members of peasant organizations and other indigenous groups fighting for agrarian reform and for their ancestral lands.
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