Davao mayor tells people to resist, drive out NPA

DIGOS CITY –– Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte has renewed her call for the people to resist and drive out communist guerrillas from their communities.

Duterte made the call in reaction to an NPA attack last Wednesday in Paquibato district that injured two soldiers.

On Saturday, Duterte visited Paquibato.

Lt. Col. Ezra Balagtey, Eastern Mindanao Command spokesperson, said the soldiers were on foot patrol in Sitio Kapihan of Barangay Malabog in Paquibato District when the rebels blew up an explosive at 3:20 p.m.

The patrol was meant to secure the area before local officials and personnel from the Department of Social Welfare and Development distribute cash assistance to residents under the Social Amelioration Program.

Balagtey said the troops were sent after they were alerted by civilians about the rebels planning to harass them.

Balagtey noted that the attack happened as the NPA supposedly declared an extension of its unilateral ceasefire up to April 30.

In a statement, Duterte lamented that the NPA offensive was launched as the government was preoccupied with responding to the health crisis brought by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“The cowardly attack … only proved that the NPA, the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines), and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines are truly the enemy of the people and the government,” Duterte said.

“For the NPA terrorists, what’s important is death, destruction, and taking over the government,” she lamented.

“We call on the public to reject the NPA terrorists, work together, and strongly resist its perverted political agenda, and drive them completely out of our communities,” she further said.

LZB