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The chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Debold Sinas, reminded police commanders on Friday, December 18, to step up alertness and vigilance against a possible attack by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) -New Army. Popular (NPA) ahead of its 52 founding anniversary on December 26, 2020.
“The CPP-NPA-NDF (National Democratic Front) is known to launch high-profile hostilities to commemorate important dates in the underground movement over the past five decades to the beat of drums,” Sinas said.
“The recent series of hostile actions initiated by the CPP-NPA-NDF are part of that long vicious cycle and 50-year tradition of violence by the local communist movement,” he added.
Sinas ordered police field units to maintain a defensive security posture amid the latest series of CPP-NPA-NDF hostilities against government personnel, isolated government facilities, and civilian communities primarily with the use of landmines, prohibited during long time by international conventions for use in warfare.
Among the latest attacks organized by the group is that of Barangay Balicua, Tubungan, Iloilo, where a landmine believed to have been planted by the terrorist group hit a PNP patrol vehicle. Nobody was hurt in the incident.
On December 10, a police corporal was killed in a group-organized landmine ambush in a police team conducting an administrative mission to escort a defendant to court in Barangay Logero, Marabut, Samar, and on December 15 , two military trucks carrying relief items for disaster victims hit a landmine in Barangay Sogoy, Castilla, Sorsogon at 5:20 am
Both the government and the CPP-NPA-NDF previously said that they will not declare a ceasefire with the government over the Christmas holidays.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said they did not recommend a ceasefire declaration to President Rodrigo Duterte as the communist terrorist group has shown insincerity and infidelity to the ceasefire in the past.
The CPP, in a statement, said it instructed its armed wing, the NPA, to “defend the masses and themselves against attacks by the AFPs.”
“Faced with the vicious attacks by Duterte’s military and police both in cities and in the countryside, the Central Committee of the PCP is forced to dispense with the traditional ceasefire this year,” the statement read. (SunStar Philippines)
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