President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated that he will not pull out military troops from the rural communities even with his declaration of a unilateral ceasefire.
The New People’s Army said the Army has “twisted” the facts it presented to President Rodrigo Duterte and claimed that it was the government troops who violated the unilateral ceasefire declared by the President.
President Rodrigo Duterte warned the Communist Party of the Philippines that he will end the unilateral ceasefire if they will not give an explanation on the reported attack of the New People’s Army that resulted to the death of a Cafgu Active Auxiliary and the wounding of four others.
The National Operational Command of the New People’s Army has ordered all units and commands of the NPA to stay in “active defense mode” as it welcomes the declaration of the unilateral ceasefire by President Rodrigo Duterte during his State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 25.
Two days after the killing of an anti-Communist Ata tribal leader Ruben Labawan last July 6, the New People’s Army in Southern Mindanao owned up responsibility in the attack.
The New People’s Army confirmed that it was holding as prisoner a government soldier and released on Thursday night a video clip of the soldier in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental.
After the massive funeral march tribute for the slain New People’s Army commander, Leoncio “Ka Parago” Pitao, armed New People’s Army guerrillas also paid their last tribute to Ka Parago with the honorary 21-gun salute in the foothills of Mt. Apo on Sunday.
The attendance of an estimated 10,000 individuals in the funeral march of a fallen rebel commander is a “reflection” of the New Peoples Army’s strength of its mass base here, a prominent militant leader said.
The tribute program for fallen New People’s Army commander Leoncio “Ka Parago” Pitao opened with a song themed with what has been a monicker of communist guerillas, that they are “soldiers of the poor.”
The New People’s Army confirmed the death of Commander Parago by a combined Army task force in Paquibato Sunday.
