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Saturday, December 27, 2003
Communists to honor truce this yuletide season
By Miko Santos
THE Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) assured Friday that the rebels will not launch offensives against the military on its 35th anniversary. The CPP was established in Dec. 26, 1968.
Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal, CPP spokesman, said in a statement that the group follows the unilateral cease-fire set by the government.
Rosal said the CPP-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) remains on alert for possible government troop offensives.
However, CPP central committee chairman Armando Liwanag called on guerrillas to further "expand and intensify" tactical attacks and "isolate and bring down" the government of President Arroyo.
Liwanag said in a statement that the party would "extend the guerrilla fronts to the majority of municipalities, especially those in the strategic parts of the archipelago."
Liwanag also accused the Arroyo government of being a "puppet" of the United States.
Arroyo ordered the suspension of military offensives (Somo) against the communist rebels from December 10 to January 6, 2004.
Meanwhile, at least 64 rebels and 44 soldiers and policemen were killed in the government's anti-insurgency campaign in Central and Northern Luzon this year, a military report said.
Among those arrested were top leaders of the CPP and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA).
The report said arrested were identified as Araceli Arciaga, secretary of the Ilocos-Cordillera regional committee; Josephine Perez, political officer of the Ilocos sub-region; Nonoy Soza, secretary of the Venerando Villacillo Front; and Lourdes Mabanag, medical officer of the Cagayan Valley regional committee.
Of the government forces killed in action, at least 27 were soldiers, 15 were policemen while two were civilian volunteers. At least 51, most of them Army soldiers, were wounded in the clashes, the reports said.
Military reports also said 10 suspected NPA rebels had been killed in a series of encounters in Quirino, Isabela and Ilocos provinces in the past month.
(December 27, 2003 issue)
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