Palace condemns NPA attack on gov't soldiers amid truce

Malacañang on Sunday condemned the attack by the New People's Army on soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines doing community work in Rizal province amid the truce between the government and the communist rebels as the nation grapples with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threat.

In a statement,  presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said elements of the NPA attacked  government soldiers conducting community work in Barangay Puray in Rodriguez, Rizal.

The said attack, which claimed the life of one soldier and wounded two others, and also resulted in "heavy casualties" on the part of the NPA "unmasked the treacherous character of the NPA when it declared a ceasefire following the government’s own declaration," Panelo said.

"This armed attack by the NPA against our soldiers exposes the insincerity of the former in declaring a ceasefire as well as their blatant disregard of the welfare of the Filipino people they claim to fight for," he said.

"Their armed assault against the soldiers who were doing community work in connection with the government’s battle against COVID-19 have placed the civilians in imminent danger and disrupted the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine in that area," he added.

Panelo said government soldiers' ability to repulse the NPA's offensives shows the preparedness of the armed forces against the communist rebels even though they have to perform additional tasks to implement the protocols against the further spread of COVID-19.

"Let this be a warning to the enemies of the state that the constituted authorities are equipped and ready to repel any and all transgressions of law and crush any armed attack against our soldiers and civilians with ferocity and might," Panelo added.

The Communist Party of the Philippines on Tuesday last week declared a unilateral ceasefire as a “gesture towards national unity and based on humanitarian principles in the context of the serious public emergency.”

“The purpose of this unilateral ceasefire is to ensure and facilitate necessary, unhampered and immediate medical, health and economic assistance, support and movement of the people,” they said.

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte declared a truce with the CPP so that the "swift provision of public health assistance goes unimpeded."

On Sunday, the NPA commemorated its 51st founding anniversary. In a separate statement, CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison, examined the role of the NPA in what he called the people's democratic revolution.

"It is absolutely clear that the main objective of the people’s democratic revolution is to achieve full national independence, democracy, social justice, economic development through genuine land reform and national industrialization and patriotic and progressive culture before there can be a basis for socialism," he said.

"In the face of the Duterte virus, which is far more deadly than the COVID-19, the Filipino people see no other recourse but to take the road of new democratic revolution with the socialist perspective."  —Erwin Colcol/LBG, GMA News