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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: Communist rebels on Monday
warned of more attacks against government and military targets in
the southern Philippines.
The rebels belonging to the New People’s Army
(NPA) also vowed to execute soldiers and policemen who committed
serious violations of human rights and civilians working as spies
for the Philippine military.
“Combatants of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines and the Philippine National Police, and their
intelligence officers and operatives, those who have committed
serious violations of human rights, plunderers, persons who have
blood debts against the people and the revolutionary movement and
the most horrible types of criminals have all the more reason to
worry about the New People’s Army,” Rigoberto Sanchez, a rebel
spokesman, said.
The NPA also took responsibility for the killing
of a militia leader, Nelson Sam-o, in a raid March 28 in Compostela
Valley province. He was also the village chieftain of San Jose, a
hamlet in Monkayo town, the second village chieftain killed in a
span of ten days in Mindanao.
On March 18, rebel forces also executed Custodio
Varona of Fatima village in Paquibato district in the outskirts of
Davao City.
“Combat troops of the AFP, PNP and
paramilitary forces are legitimate military targets. Under the
Geneva Convention and its Protocols, the members of parties in armed
conflict, except their medical personnel and chaplains and those
considered hors de combat [disabled combatants], are legitimate
military targets,” Sanchez said.
The outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines
(CPP) last week ordered the NPA, its military wing, to intensify
attacks on government and military targets as part of its new
offensive. It said the main purpose of the offensive is to seize
weapons and increase the number of rebel forces in the country.
The CPP broke off peace talks with Manila in
2004 after the United States on the government’s prodding, listed
the communist groups as foreign terrorist organizations and froze
their assets abroad.
Last week, more than 2,000 people, mostly
members of the anti-communist group called the National Alliance for
Democracy, held an indignation rally in Tambulig town in Zamboanga
del Sur province.
Major Gamal Hayudini, commander of the
military’s 4th Civil Relations Group, said more and more people
are joining anti-communist rallies in the southern Philippines to
denounce the NPA atrocities.
“The NPA is just echoing its frustrations; it
is an act desperation on the part of the CPP and NPA. It is just a
deception; it’s an old story. The people are supporting us, they
are supporting the government and as a matter of fact, many rebels
and their supporters have returned to the folds of the law,”
Hayudini said.
The NPA, which celebrated its 39th anniversary
March 29, is still fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state
in the Philippines.
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