THE Armed Forces said recent landmine attacks staged by the New People’s Army in Northern Samar are meant to pressure government into resuming peace talks at the national level.
The most recent attack was that in Catubig, Northern Samar last Tuesday that killed a soldier and injured five others.
Acting AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said the attacks “are meant to strengthen the CPP’s hold on their dwindling and demoralized fighters and increase pressure on the government to resume the peace talks according to their terms.”
The government terminated peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, representing the Communist Party of the Philippines) and its armed wing, the NPA, in 2017 and opted to talk to the communist rebels at the local level.
Aguilar said the communists “will not succeed” in pressuring government into resuming the peace negotiations at the national level.
He also said the military favors the government’s decision to hold localized peace talks, which communist leaders are vigorously opposing.
“This strategy is proven to be very effective in conflict resolution thereby saving thousands of precious lives,” he said.
He said localized peace talks are effective because communities have their own sets of problems. “It directly addresses the problems in the communities,” he said.
Last Tuesday, troops from the Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion were on combat operation in Barangay Catubig in Catubig town when the rebels detonated anti-personnel mines (APM), leaving a soldier dead and five others injured.
On July 5, NPA rebels also detonated APMs, which are banned under the Ottawa Convention, in Mapanas town, also in Northern Samar, injuring seven soldiers. On April 3, two policemen were killed and four soldiers and policemen were injured in a similar attack in Las Navas town, also in Northern Samar.
Aguilar said these attacks do not show the NPA is growing in strength.
