NPA warned: Don’t join Mindanao fray

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

The military is not specifically targeting the communist New People’s Army (NPA) in Mindanao but criminal acts would be “dealt with” as usual, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Saturday.

The defense chief reiterated that Mindanao was placed under martial law to deal with Islamist terrorism and not really against the NPA or the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

“Let me emphasize, however, that members of the CPP-NPA who will engage in criminal and illegal acts such as kidnapping, extortion, murder and the destruction of property will be dealt with, with or without martial law,” Lorenzana said.

“Don’t join the fray in Mindanao… Do not force the government’s hand,” Lorenzana said after the CPP ordered the NPA to intensify operations in protest of martial law in Mindanao.

Lorenzana reiterated that Mindanao was placed under martial law “to address radical Islamic terrorism and narco-terrorism in Mindanao.”

Instead of aggravating the situation in Mindanao, Lorenzana called on the communist insurgents to “stop all illegal activities and abide by the true spirit of the peace process.”—JAYMEE T. GAMIL