The AFP’s biggest area command again showcased its patent ignorance of the rules of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in the conduct of war when they condemned what is clearly a legitimate NPA attack against the newly deployed 3rd special forces (SF) battalion-Philippine Army in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley yesterday.
Are the combat troops of the 3rd SF Battalion,–touted as an elite unit of the AFP–non-combatants, chaplains, medical personnel, sick, wounded or civilian persons who should be spared from any armed action by the people’s army as explicitly provided in the four Geneva conventions of 1949 and its protocols of 1977?
This matter is conveniently buried by the AFP every time it suffers staggering blows from tactical offensives of the NPA and when their forces commit blatant human rights violations and violations of IHL and the 1998 GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
Thus, their condemnation of this latest of intensifying tactical offensive by the NPA is plain nonsense and smacks of ignorance and duplicity.
The Merardo Arce Command-NPA congratulates the Ka Paking Guimbaolibot red partisan brigade (KPGRPB) for this daring and swift strike against the 3rd SF Battalion. The NPA will continue to inflict casualties on the enemy that is obviously running desperate in their frustrating Oplan Bantay Laya II campaign to stem the tide of the people’s war. #
(Sgd) RIGOBERTO F. SANCHEZ
Spokesperson
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operation
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