Military scoffs at CPP call for escalated attacks vs security forces

The Philippine military on Saturday scoffed at the Communist Party of the Philippines' (CPP's) recent call for its armed wing, the New People's Army, to intensify attacks against security forces.

“They are hallucinating again!” said Armed Forces spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo in a Saturday statement. “With the outpour of surrenders both in terms of manpower and firearms and the number of communist terrorists neutralized, we wonder where this Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) is drawing the nerve to make such a declaration.”

Arevalo added that the CPP-NPA had always been trying to step up their attacks but had “ failed dismally every time,” except when the targets were unarmed servicemen who were involved in disaster, calamity, or pandemic relief efforts.

“It bewilders us in the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] who are the 'Filipino people' the CPP is referring to have 'clamour for justice,'” said the military spokesperson.

“The last time we checked, the Filipino people —especially the rural folks and the indigenous people they murder, rape, and rob— have strongly rejected them. And if ever there are people clamoring for justice, it is against the CTG for the many atrocities and abuses they commit against our hapless people.”

Last October 11, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) condemned a series of attacks allegedly perpetrated by New People’s Army (NPA) gunmen that violated international humanitarian law.

The CHR was particularly appalled by the killing and torture of Private First Class Ariel Guinsod Maca, a Manobo member of the Philippine Army's 36th Infantry Batallion, and the ambush-slay of Indigenous Peoples' Mandatory Representative Hawudon Jumar S. Bucales. — DVM, GMA News