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CPP slams CHR for ‘echoing AFP lies’ on landmines

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The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) challenged the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to cite International Humanitarian Law (IHL) principles the New People’s Army (NPA) allegedly violated in its ambush of government soldiers in Jipapad, Eastern Samar last July 7.

In a statement Tuesday, CPP public information officer Marco Valbuena demanded that CHR deputy spokesperson Marc Louis Siapno specify which IHL provision the NPA failed to observe in the military action that killed three government troopers and wounded six others.

Valbuena also strongly reacted to Siapno’s allegation that the NPA indiscriminately used improvised explosive devices (IED) during the incident.

“By condemning wholesale the use of landmines, the CHR mouthpiece is not helping educate the public with regard the Ottawa Treaty. He should understand that the treaty specifically bans the use of landmines that are ‘designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person’ and does not prohibit the use of command-detonated landmines,” Valbuena said.

Valbuena added: “Is the CHR spokesperson aware that the armed forces of Canada (where Ottawa is located) itself possesses and uses command-detonated landmines (similar to that of the NPA) which it says are not covered by the landmine treaty?”

In a statement Friday, Siapno alleged the NPA indiscriminately used IEDs, including landmines, that “fail in distinguishing between civilians and combatants and protect especially civilians and communities from the ill effects of armed conflict, which violates the spirit of IHL.”

Siapno also urged the government “to pursue the perpetrators…in keeping with the rule of law,” adding the five-decade CPP-led revolution is “senseless violence.”

‘Misleading’

Valbuena however said he is not surprised with CHR’s bias.

“In the first place, the CHR is an agency of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). At every opportunity, it denounces the NPA and echoes the lies of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines),” he said.

Valbuena cited the article “CHR, gov’t close ranks vs. NPA” published Monday by the Philippine News Agency he described as a “trash news website.”

The article quoted Philippine Army 8th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Pio Diñoso saying the government troopers were unarmed when ambushed.

“The spot report of the AFP itself said that the ‘firefight lasted for about 20 minutes,” although the NPA report said the battle lasted only for 5 minutes,” Valbuena countered.

He added the NPA seized a Gloc-made pistol as well as a .45 caliber and a .9mm pistol of unknown makes from the soldiers. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

85th IBPA suffers casualties in Lopez ambush–NPA

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The New People’s Army (NPA) in Quezon said it ambushed troopers of the Philippine Army’s 85th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Cogorin Ibaba, Lopez, Quezon Monday night.

The NPA’s Apolonio Mendoza Command (NPA-AMC) said it ambushed 10 government soldiers on board a truck as well as their reinforcements in two separate fire fights.

While not giving an exact number, the guerrillas said they have confirmed casualties on the state forces while suffering no casualties of their own in the clashes that lasted about 20 minutes.

“The tactical offensive was part of the NPA’s defense of farmers’ communities under the red territory of the revolutionary movement,” the rebels said in Filipino.

“While the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) has opened a new window for the resumption of peace negotiations, its military continues to attack farmers communities, forcing the NPA to launch a counter attack,” NPA-AMC spokesperson Cleo del Mundo added.

Del Mundo said military operations terrorize civilians in the area that disobeys President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncements for the creation of an enabling environment before the resumption for formal negotiations between the GRP and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

“In the past week alone, five barangays in three towns [in Bondoc Peninsula] have been militarized by at least a company-sized contingent of soldiers,” del Mundo said.

The rebel spokesperson said Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) soldiers have descended on Barangays San Francisco B, San Miguel Dao, Veronica and Jongo in Lopez town, Cauayan in Gumaca town, and Bulagsong in Catanauan town.

Del Mundo explained that the farmers could no longer tend to their coconut farms and their farm animals since the AFP launched their military operations last week.

“The residents are also terrorized by the soldiers’ fake census that have resulted in fake surrender ceremonies in the past, as what happened in Barangay Jongo last February where 11 farmers who were paraded before Duterte in Malacañang came from,” del Mundo said.

The AFP website has no statement on the reported clash.

The NPA attack happened less than two weeks before both the NDFP and the GRP are supposed to jointly declare a “stand down” order for both the NPA on one hand and the AFP and the Philippine National Police on the other as a goodwill measure for the resumption of formal peace negotiations in Oslo, Norway.

The NDFP and the GRP are expected to approve an interim peace agreement that would include a coordinated unilateral ceasefire, a general amnesty declaration for about 520 NDFP-listed political prisoners and agrarian reform and rural development as well as national industrialization and economic development agreements at the end of the month.

The parties said the social and economic reform agreements are meant to address the root causes of the armed conflict between NDFP forces and the GRP. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)