AFP: CPP should not sound chivalrous, should have allowed safe passage of aid in the past

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday said the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) should not "sound chivalrous” for allowing the free and safe passage of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.

AFP spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo issued the remark after the CPP promised to allow the safe transport of vaccines but urged the government not to use military vehicles to deliver it.

“As a matter of fact, they should have done so in many instances in the past instead of killing military personnel who were both security and workhorses in bringing relief goods to our calamity-stricken kababayans,” Arevalo said in a statement.

Arevalo said the CPP should not take advantage of the pandemic “to salvage their reputation that they vastly eroded or [to] attempt to build an image which is in stark contrast with what they are doing.”

“They should instead cooperate by simply allowing [the] government to pass and bring the vaccines to our needy kababayans,” Arevalo said.

“We ask them to stop their propaganda against the AFP which, unlike them, has proven its commitment—time and again—by innumerable selfless acts during calamities and disasters, pandemic, and other health emergencies,” he added.

On Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte asked the the Communist Party of the Philippines to allow the free and safe transport of COVID-19 vaccines particularly in areas where they have a degree of influence.

“I am appealing to the Communist Party of the Philippines, ‘yong pinaka-umbrella. I don’t consider ‘yong mga NDF pati mga NPA, the CPP must guarantee that the vaccines in the course of their being transported to areas where there are no city health officers or medical persons na ‘wag ninyo galawin ang medisina,” Duterte said in his weekly public address.

“Allow the vaccines to be transported freely and safely. I am asking you now to observe that rule because that is for the Filipino people,” he added.

The communist group agreed to the appeal but “strongly” suggested that the vaccines should be transported or distributed, and the inoculation drive be handled by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Philippine Red Cross, and other civilian humanitarian agencies.

But Arevalo also said it is not for the CPP to decide what vehicles the government should use if it cannot provide any alternative.

“Those assets are there, after all, to cater to the interest and welfare of the people we are constitutionally mandated to protect and serve,” he said. — RSJ, GMA News