NFT... (from page 5)

ing Gurung and Ramos since September last year.

The two Aetas, however, decided to reject NUPL's legal assistance and asked the help of the Public Attorney’s Office and the NCIP.

By then, the NTF-ELCAC and the NCIP assured Gurung and Ramos, they will be provided with the necessary legal assistance during the court's trials.

"We wish to thank our security forces and our agencies, especially the Public Attorney’s Office, for extending their consideration as well as tremendous assistance and support since the trial began," the statement said.

"We are one with our Aeta brothers and their families, in their quest for justice, and we will be with them as they walk free and return to their families and ancestral land," they added.

The government, through the NTF-ELCAC, is intensifying its fight against communist terrorist groups and its front organizations to end the 52year old armed conflict.

Signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte in December 2018, Executive Order 70 created the NTFELCAC that institutionalizes a whole-of-nation approach in obtaining exclusive and sustainable peace, giving the government an effective solution against communist terrorists.

Duterte earlier acknowledged the efforts of the security forces to dismantle the remaining guerrilla fronts of the CPP-NPA-NDF.

He hoped the CTG guerilla fronts would be wiped out by the end of his term.

The CPP-NPA-NDF is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.