President Rodrigo Duterte is considering a recommendation from the Defense department to dispense with the usual holiday truce with communist rebels, Palace sources said Tuesday.
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Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, they added, was against a holiday ceasefire because the New People’s Army might use it to shore up it ranks, which have been depleted by those surrendering to the government.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the government wants a permanent truce rather than a holiday ceasefire.
“It’s time to stop this bloodshed, it’s been 50 years,” he said.
The military on Tueday said it will keep a tight watch on the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army as it celebrates its 50th founding anniversary on Dec. 26.
“We will closely monitor them and those who will be extending support and sympathies and we will expose them so the Filipinos will have an informed decision when the moment of choosing comes,” Armed Forces of the Philippines public affairs office chief Col. Noel Detoyato said Monday.
Detoyato said that it will be a hollow celebration as the rebels will be observing 50 years of deceit, atrocities, and lies.
He also said the number of rebels who have surrendered has reached 10,698 from Jan. 1 to Nov. 28 this year.
These were broken down to 1,121 regular NPA members who have surrendered and 9,577 supporters coming from rebels’ so-called “Militia ng Bayan.”
He estimated the remaining regular NPA members at only 3,000 but said this number could vary as group continues to recruit.
Detoyato attributed the steady number of rebel returnees to the ongoing implementation of the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program program.
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