DAVAO CITY – Communist rebels have declared a ceasefire with Philippine military, but said their forces will remain in a defensive posture across the country following the government’s unilateral truce.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) released the order and said the ceasefire will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday until December 26, and on December 30 until January 2. The ceasefire is in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s truce which will take effect on December 24 until January 2.
The government truce will allow soldiers to spend the yuletide holidays with their families, but despite the suspension of military operations against the New People’s Army, Duterte said law enforcement operations shall continue in areas where the rebels are actively operating.
Communist officials said the ceasefire was decided by the CPP Central Committee following a long-time tradition and to celebrate its 49th founding anniversary, although its supreme leader Jose Maria Sison – who was arrested in 1977 – has been living in exile in The Netherlands since his release from prison in 1986 after Corazon Aquino took over President Ferdinand Marcos in a people power revolution.
The rebel ceasefire came a day after Duterte met with some 700 former NPA fighters in his hometown in Davao City where the government distributed financial and livelihood aid to them. Army Major Ezra Balagtey, a spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command, said those who attended the meeting had surrendered this year in the provinces of Agusan, Bukidnon, Surigao, Davao, Cotabato and Sarangani.
He said many of those who yielded to the government have received financial assistance and livelihood aid as part of the so-called Comprehensive Local Integration Program or CLIP. Others, he said, are still being processed so they can also receive assistance from the government. Among the specific benefits that each former communist rebel can get from CLIP are P15,000 financial support, another P50,000 for livelihood, and a remuneration for the surrendered firearm with an amount ranging from P12,000 to P210,000 depending on the type of firearms that they turned over to the government, according to Balagtey.
Some of them also joined a paramilitary unit being run by the army to help troops guard communities from NPA attacks. But those who surrendered were also being hunted down by their former comrades for abandoning their cause. (Mindanao Examiner)
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