DEFENSE Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. yesterday said the government will not declare a ceasefire with the communists during the Christmas season.
“Any ceasefire with the CPP-NPA-NDF is a ceasefire against terrorists and criminals,” Teodoro said in a statement, referring to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front.
“It is a last-ditch measure of a Jurassic group to find relevance in the national political ecosystem,” added Teodoro.
In the past years, the government has not declared a Christmas truce with the communists, which the military is aiming to defeat before the end of the year so it can transition to external or territorial defense operations, from internal security operations.
Teodoro’s statement came a day after the CPP announced that it was not going to declare a holiday truce this year. Last year, the CPP declared a two-day Christmas truce.
In a statement, CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said they cannot declare such a truce “in the face of the Marcos regime’s relentless war of suppression, offensive military operations and imposition of martial law in the countryside.
“In its desperation to crush the people’s resistance, the AFP is presently undertaking military operations across the country against the Party and NPA,” said Valbuena.
He accused the AFP of making a “ludicrous claim” that the NPA only has one “weakened guerrilla front” to “boost its public image.”
“This is, however, belied by their own actions. Billions of pesos are currently being squandered in large-scale military deployments and offensives of the AFP across all regions in the country,” said Valbuena.
The CPP is due to celebrate its 56th foundation anniversary on December 26. Communists usually marked their anniversary with attacks on government and civilian targets in the past.
Armed Forces spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the NPA is no longer capable of staging huge-scale attacks, noting the rebel group has been weakened.
Valbuena said NPA units and peasant organizations are preparing meetings and assemblies “in order to celebrate past victories, take stock of weaknesses and strengths, and reaffirm their resolve to wage greater struggles in the coming year.”
