NPA holding 5 soldiers as prisoners of war

DAVAO CITY – The New People’s Army said it has captured five soldiers in at least 20 military actions in the past five days.

Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos, spokesperson of the NPA-National Operations Command, said the offensives across the country were a “response to the clamor of the people to defend their rights and welfare against fully-armed occupation troops of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines).”

Madlos, in a statement released Friday, said the initial “successful active defense maneuvers” of the NPA were conducted in the provinces of Davao Oriental, Surigao del Norte, Agusan de Norte, Bukidnon, Sultan Kudarat, Isabela, Panay and in Batangas.

“At least five AFP soldiers have been captured and are being treated as POWs (Prisoners of War). A number of AFP officers and men have been killed and wounded in the armed attacks,” Madlos said.

READ: AFP: 3 soldiers killed by NPA had at least 24 gunshots each

When he was still mayor of Davao City, President Rodrigo Duterte was known for facilitating the release of captured policemen and soldiers.

“A couple other military actions have been carried out against the destructive and landgrabbing big enterprises in Davao, Bukidnon and notably, against big comprador Henry Sy’s security forces in Batangas,” the communist leader added.

Madlos said the latest actions were “inevitable consequence of the Duterte government’s obduracy and duplicity in continuing offensive operations under then Oplan Bayanihan and presently Oplan Kapayapaan in violation of the spirit of the ceasefire declarations reciprocally declared by the GRP and the NDFP.”

“Most of the NPA military actions have targeted the so-called “peace and development teams” of armed troops of the AFP which have entrenched themselves at village centers, usually making use of barangay (village) halls, day care centers and public schools as their barracks,” Madlos said.

Madlos said the military wants to “gain sympathy by spreading the lie that the presence of these teams have been “requested” by barangay officials, when in fact, they just intimidate local officials to sign blank papers.”

“They also spread the lie that soldiers are bringing relief goods or carrying out relief operations. They make use of so-called ‘delivery of social services’ to forward deploy their troops within the guerrilla zones of the NPA,” Madlos said.

The NPA recently announced the termination of its unilateral ceasefire declaration effective February 10, citing two major reasons including the alleged non-release of political prisoners and the continuing presence of government forces in the communities.

READ: After attacks, NPA ending ceasefire — rebel official
President Duterte on Thursday explained that it is not that easy for him to immediately release all political prisoners explaining that the military might react adversely.
The government peace panel earlier said that the releases would require the observance of several legal and judicial processes./rga