AFP to follow SOMO vs Reds

While he is against a Christmas truce with communist rebels, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana will follow the orders of the President and implement the suspension of military operations against the insurgents.

“We will follow the directive of the President if he has declared it. I was actually adamant. I did not recommend for the cessation of military operations against the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) but if the President declared, so then we are going to implement and abide by the directive of the President,” Lorenzana said yesterday.

Lorenzana has been lukewarm to a suspension of offensive military operations (SOMO) against the NPA every Christmas and New Year, saying the government has to maintain the momentum over the insurgents.

Duterte yesterday ordered the military to suspend operations against communist rebels over Christmas.

The SOMO will be in effect from Dec. 24 to Jan. 2, and has been a customary move by both sides since the launch of formal talks in the late 1980s.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa welcomed Duterte’s decision to suspend offensives against communist rebels during the holiday season.

“That’s good so our operating troops in the mountains can go down and spend holidays with their families,” Dela Rosa said.

In compliance with Duterte’s order, Dela Rosa said all police operations against the communist rebels are put on hold.

“The order is ceasefire so there are no internal security operations,” he said.

Dela Rosa clarified the ceasefire does not cover operations against drug offenders.

Senior military commanders also expressed their support to the SOMO declaration of the President.

They said the NPA in Luzon as well as in Mindanao is no longer that strong to influence the military strategy against it.

“They are losing steam on all fronts. In Mindanao they are now facing defeat,” said Maj. Gen. Ronald Villanueva, commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in Cagayan de Oro City.

Villanueva’s unit covers the areas of Northern Mindanao where the NPA rebels have established a strong presence, apart from Davao and Caraga regions.

In Luzon, Maj. Gen. Felimon Santos Jr., commander of the Nueva Ecija-based 7th Infantry Division, said that except for some NPA rebels operating in Northern Luzon, the insurgency problem in Central Luzon, Ilocos and Cagayan Valley is no longer that serious.

“Only a few of them are based in Northern Luzon and we are running after them,” Santos said.

Brig. Gen. Jacinto Bareng, 102nd Brigade commander based in Zamboanga del Sur, said a rebel took the opportunity to surrender to be with his family during the Christmas season.

Bareng said Benson Nadias, a medic of the NPA’s Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee, personally yielded his M16 rifle as a sign of his surrender.

Nadias said he was convinced by a relative to surrender to spend Christmas with his family.

He revealed that some of his comrades are also planning to surrender. –