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Friday, March 29, 2024

AFP clarifies christmas truce

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THE Armed Forces of the Philippines clarified on Saturday that the suspension of military operation President Benigno Aquino III approved on Friday does not include law enforcement operations of the Philippine National Police.

The SOMO coincides with the truce the Communist Party of the Philippines announced beginning 12:01 a.m. of Dec. 23 until 11:59 p.m. of Jan. 3, 2016.

“[The SOMO] does not cover law enforcement operations conducted by the Philippine National Police that the AFP supports against other threat groups and wanted personalities,” the military added.

“The AFP hopes that NPA members would use this time of peace to reflect. We call on them to surrender, abandon the armed struggle and ultimately return to the fold of law,” it said.

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On Friday, Malacañang announced that Aquino approved the recommendation of the Department of National Defense for the unilateral SOMO against the New People’s Army for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

But some NPA units were ordered to step up operations before the start of the truce.

NPA rebels in Samar ambushed government troops providing assistance to victims of Typhoon “Nona” in Pinabacdao town on Friday morning, wounding two soldiers.

The soldiers from the 546th Engineering Battalion and 81st Division Reconnaissance Company were aboard two trucks when they were waylaid around 7:30 a.m. at the boundary of barangays Madalunot and Pahug.

‘‘This clearly shows the NPA’s disregard to the plight of our brothers and sisters in Samar who were devastated by the onslaught of storm Nona,” the military said.

“This is also a clear indication that the NPAs continuously and deliberately conduct atrocities against our troops and public servants who are only doing their job to alleviate the suffering experienced by storm victims in Visayas,” it added.

The military said the attack will not hamper government troops from pursuing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations for the victims of Nona “who are in need of our help.”

“We will continue with our relief and assistance operations for the victims of the typhoon,” it said. 

In Negros, the NPA’s Leonardo Panaligan Command in central Negros also ordered its units to launch widespread tactical offensives against military units, a week before the start of the truce on Dec. 23. 

But days before the truce, the NPA abducted a member of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade, raided a cock farm in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, and detonated an improvised explosive device, injuring six Army soldiers and a civilian in Iloilo. 

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