MANILA, Philippines — “I will not be intimidated by such an evil plot. We are prepared for that.”
This was the fierce remark of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on the reported plot of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to assassinate him and other government officials leading the Duterte administration’s campaign against insurgency.
“We will get them before they can execute their plan. We will keep this country safe against these godless communist terrorists/bandits,” he also said Thursday.
Maj. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., deputy chief of staff for civil-military operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, earlier revealed that the CPP has launched a plot to kill Año as well as National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and National Commission on Indigenous People’s chairman Allen Capuyan.
Further, Parlade said that he’s also in CPP’s kill list along with five former communist leaders helping the government in its counter-insurgency program.
According to Parlade, the alleged assassination plot was dubbed “Oplan Hades”, supposedly CPP’s program against counter-revolutionaries.
Parlade added that the New People’s Army’s hit squad – Special Partisan Unit – was tasked for the job.