Año: Alleged NPA rebels killed in Rizal were part of 'death squads' ordered deployed by Joma

The five suspected New People's Army (NPA) members killed in Baras, Rizal in December last year were part of the death squads allegedly ordered to be deployed by Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria "Joma" Sison, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Tuesday. 

According to DILG Secretary Eduardo Año, the slain rebels were deployed in Southern Luzon to assassinate top national and local government leaders as well as police and military officers over “blood debts.”

“We can now confirm that the five NPA members killed in Barangay San Juan, Baras, Rizal were part of a death squad that was supposed to carry out the directive of Joma Sison to assassinate government and civilian leaders,” Año said in a press statement.  

“Isang tagumpay para sa atin na napigilan ang mga ganitong mga operasyon ng NPA lalo pa’t ito’y isang tuwirang pagbabanta sa buhay ng mga pinuno ng bansa at maging ng mga sibilyan,” he added.

Included among those killed in the operation last month were an alleged revolutionary tax collector of the NPA and an intelligence officer of the group. 

State forces were about to issue a warrant of arrest against Antonio "Dad" Cule, the supposed head of the Finance Staff and Execom member of the NPA's Sub-Regional Military Area (SRMA) IV-A for a case of frustrated murder when the rebels fired shots at authorities. 

Marco Valbuena, CPP's chief information officer, earlier said "there is a standing order for the NPA to form partisan teams to mete out punishment against enemy units and officers who have committed bloody crimes against the people."

The Philippine military has branded Sison's directive as a "deliberate attempt to terrorize the people" and a desperate plan to show to security forces and the public that the communist group was still a significant force.

For the DILG chief, the deployment of the NPA death squads to urban areas intends to bring the NPA’s reign of terror in the countryside to the cities. 

“The PNP and AFP will do its utmost to protect the people from these terrorists in sheep’s clothing. We will crush these urban terrorist cells before they can begin their reign of terror,” he vowed. 

Año urged the Commission on Human Rights and the progressive group Makabayan Bloc to condemn the deployment of NPA death squads in urban areas in order to prove that they are truly not linked to communist groups. 

He claimed that the assassinations allegedly perpetrated by the NPA death squads are clearly extrajudicial killings, which "the CPP is now bringing to the urban areas after decades of perfecting armed terrorism in the mountains." 

Año, a retired general, further echoed the remark of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that the supposed deployment of partisan units was a convincing proof that it is correct for the Anti-Terrorism Council to designate the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group. 

“Ngayon ay hindi na nila maikakaila ang kanilang tunay na kulay at motibo. Sila ay mga terorista na kailanman ay hindi naghangad ng kapayapaan kundi ang maghasik ng kaguluhan, pumatay ng mga puwersa ng gobyerno, para pabagsakin ang gobyerno,” he said.

The DILG said the CPP-NPA-NDF first deployed its “sparrow units” in urban centers and murdered hundreds of policemen, military officers, and civilians in Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo and other areas to speed up its protracted people’s war, sow chaos, and bring down the government during the 1980s. —KG, GMA News