Duterte: ‘I’m ready for all-out war’ with NPA

“I’M READY for all-out war another 50 years,” President Rodrigo R. Duterte said on Thursday as he ordered the military to use “all available assets” against the New People’s Army (NPA) following a deadly ambush in Davao del Sur by suspected communist fighters.

Police scene- of- the- crime operatives ( SOCOs) who were on their way to a murder site in Bansalan, Davao del Sur, were ambushed by alleged NPA members, leaving four officers dead and one wounded.

The report said the police teams were responding to a reported murder early morning Wednesday when armed men believed to be NPA rebels attacked them about 100 meters away from the said crime scene.

During his visit to the wake of the fallen cops, Mr. Duterte said the NPA — the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) — subscribes to “ideological cannibalism” for killing fellow Filipinos “in the name of revolution.”

He then described the deadly encounter between the police and alleged NPA members as a “well laid trap,” adding that the communist movement would “never” gain power due to lack of support from the people.

“Do you want them in power? You in the back, do you want them? Look at that, if you kill people with treachery, where’s the honor in that?” the President said.

“They ( the military) can use our new airplanes, jets, you can see that, I told them to tour them. Use them. Use the rockets. And if there’s collateral damage, pasensya (I’m sorry),” he added.

Mr. Duterte, who describes himself as a socialist, has vowed to prioritize ending one of Asia’s longestrunning insurgencies. He launched the peace process soon after he took office in June last year and appointed three leftists to his Cabinet.

In a late-night media interview in Davao City last month, Mr. Duterte said he is scrapping the peace negotiations after both parties ended their unilateral ceasefire amid reports of encounters on the ground.

He also ordered the re-arrest of communist leaders who were released in order to participate in the talks and tagged the united communist organization as a terrorist group.

But last Tuesday, Mr. Duterte said the government and the communists were holding back-channel talks to revive the negotiations.

For his part, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto C. Abella in a press briefing yesterday qualified that the ambush in Davao del Sur “will provide some sort of influence” to the revival of the scuttled peace talks.

“It will influence the talks that should be… you know, I supposed the conversation would be that there should be firmer — firmer action coming from the CNN ( CPP- NPA- NDF) side on the people on the ground,” the spokesperson said.