‘Troops have no choice but shoot insurgents’

Government troops have no choice but to shoot armed New People’s Army (NPA) rebels because their refusal to lay down arms shows their resolve to kill Filipino soldiers, according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

“I assure you, no armed NPA will surrender to authorities. The options are to shoot them or [to allow] our men in uniform to be shot by them,” he said.

Illegal

Roque defended President Duterte’s order for state forces to shoot armed NPA members after Vice President Leni Robredo said the order was illegal and violative of legal processes.

But Roque said an armed NPA member was a “valid military target given that they are engaged in a noninternational armed conflict with the government.”

“So what’s new there? Isn’t rebellion a crime? Besides, we have an existing law that covers war and that is the international humanitarian law,” Roque said.

“If there’s war, all those involved can be fired at. It would be unthinkable to just tell the rebels we love them while they use violence to overthrow the government,” he added.

But Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao said Mr. Duterte’s order to soldiers to shoot and kill NPA rebels was condemnable.

“Any order that is violative of existing international laws governing armed conflicts should be condemned,” Casilao said via text message to the Inquirer.

He also criticized Roque for glossing over Mr. Duterte’s order. “Roque seems to forget or [is suffering] amnesia on this rule,” Casilao said.

Dangerous

Moreover, Casilao said Mr. Duterte’s order was dangerous to critics.

“The danger with the order is the existing policy of the state security forces of categorizing legitimate people’s organizations as legal fronts of the CPP-NPA-NDF,” he said.

Other leftist activists were also concerned that they may be made targets, like drug addicts in the government’s war on drugs.

“Activists will be [ made] victims,” said Windell Bolinget, chair of the Baguio-based Cordillera Peoples Alliance. “Civilians demanding change will be targets given the crackdown on legitimate and legal organizations tagged as NPA fronts.”

“Although Duterte’s exact statements were directed at the [NPA], history has shown us that generic and passing statements, such as these, are blown out of proportion” by the military and police, said Bagong Alyansang Makabayan’s Eastern Visayas spokesperson Joshua Sagdullas.

Sagdullas fears that Mr. Duterte’s order is really “meant to include legal organizations and activists who in recent days have been tagged as conspirators to acts of terrorism.”