CPP ends ceasefire vs military Thursday midnight

April 30, 2020

Communist guerillas end a nationwide ceasefire Thursday midnght, thirty-six days after it called on government to do a reciprocal gesture.

The Communist Party of the Philippines, in a statement,  ordered “all units of the NPA (to take an) immediate transition from an active defense posture to an offensive posture.”

The CPP claimed counter-insurgency operations remain even with (President Rodrigo Duterte) ceasefire declaration on March 16.

 It cited that soldiers were in at least 396 villages in 148 towns “conducting combat operations, aerial bombardments and artillery shelling, aerial surveillance and ground intelligence operations, arresting civilians, and violating people's rights with impunity.”

It claimed that over the past 36 days, government troopers mounted “at least 36 raids against NPA encampments in 23 provinces.

There were at least 11 other armed encounters as a result of non-stop combat operations of the AFP, the CPP alleged.

The CPP said in encounters between government troopers and the NPA in the past 36 days,  “the AFP suffered at least 56 casualties, 31 of whom were killed in action,”  while only 18 communist guerillas were killed and eight hurt. DMS