THE communist New People’s Army admitted on Saturday they attacked a group of crime scene investigators who were responding to a shooting incident in Bansalan, Davao del Sur on March 8 but skirted President Rodrigo Duterte’s remark that it is pointless to talk peace with the insurgents.
The NPA Southern Mindanao Operations Command said in a statement the ambush was carried out “to exact revolutionary justice” against a certain Marlon Lomantas whom they claimed was a military informer in Bansalan, Davao del Sur, their spokesman Rigoberto Sanchez said.
But Philippine National Police spokesperson said there was no Marlon Lomantas among the slain policemen, who were actually non-combatant crime scene investigators who were out to investigate a shooting incident in Bansalan.
“The trademark of ruthless treachery, patented by the [Communist Party of the Philippines]-NPA, has reared its ugly head again in this latest attack against a non-tactical police team of laboratory technicians and technical specialists,” Carlos said.
Carlos identified The fatalities as PO1 Rolly Benelayo, PO1 Joey Narvaza, PO1 Saro Mangotara, and PO3 Jayden May Rabor.
He said Benelayo, Narvaza and Mangotara belonged to the Bansalan Municipal Police Station while Rabor was from the Scene of the Crime Operations of Digos City.
The incident spurred Duterte to condemn the communist movement with which it was no longer viable to talk because “they’re diverting issues in the talks, they’re muddling the talks” and waging a revolution based on “ideological cannibalism.”
Duterte ordered security forces to continue waging war against the communist rebels, even if it reaches for another 50 years, and ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to use all its assets, including newly acquired jets, and drop bombs on the rebels.
But the CPP lashed back at Duterte for his “total contempt of civilian people’s lives” when he ordered the police and the military to conduct offensives against, and drop bombs on the NPA.
The Communist Party of the Philippines denounced President Rodrigo Duterte for his “total contempt of lives of civilian people’s lives who he callously considers mere ‘collateral damage’ in ordering the AFP to employ all its assets in an 'anything goes' campaign to drop bombs and flatten the hills against the New People’s Army NPA,” the CPP said in a statement.
“In ordering the AFP to carry out aerial bombings, Duterte risks indictment for war crimes as he puts thousands of civilians in the line of fire,” said the CPP. “Aerial bombing runs as well as shellings endanger the lives of thousands of people in civilian communities wherever these are conducted by the military.”
The CPP warned that Duterte’s order to bomb NPA-infested communities will only cause “grave hardships against entire communities.”
“The AFP has never effectively employed aerial bombings and shelling against the guerrilla units of the New People’s Army,” the leftists said.