NPA: Ceasefire losing ground as Duterte falls short of promises
While the New People’s Army (NPA) — armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) — adheres to the unilateral declaration of an indefinite ceasefire, it warned that such a declaration is becoming untenable due to the Duterte administration’s failure to fulfill its promise to release political prisoners.
“The NPA is also fully aware that the unilateral ceasefire declaration is becoming untenable because of the failure of the Duterte government to fullfill its oft-repeated promise of releasing the political prisoners,” NPA spokesperson
Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos said in a statement issued for the CPP-NPA’s 48th anniversary.
The NPA also criticized the government, specifically the “stubborn” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), for continuing with its “Oplan Bayanihan” that has resulted in the death of around a hundred indigenous people.
Still, Ka Oris said “the NPA is fully conscious of the effort of the CPP through the National Democratic Front to forge a just and lasting peace through negotiation with the GRP.”
“The NPA completely adheres to the spirit and provisions of the Party’s unilateral declaration of indefinite ceasefire. In fact, over the past 120 days, the ceasefire declaration of the CPP has stood because the NPA has been forebearing in the face of provocations and out and out violations of the AFP and other armed forces of the GRP of the spirit of the ceasefire.”
He, however, warned that with the government’s failure to fulfill its promises and with the continuous military operations, skirmishes were bound to break out.
He said that in “the event that the Party terminates the unilateral ceasefire declaration and orders to carry out offensives, all units of the NPA are ever ready to respond and carry out the order with full force.”
The NPA boasted of its capacity to launch bigger offensives. The group said it started with only 36 rifles in 1969 but now has thousands of high-powered rifles distributed among Red fighters nationwide. CDG/rga
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