The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has ordered the New People’s Army (NPA) to implement a four-day ceasefire during Christmas and New Year.
The CPP said that the unilateral ceasefire declaration will be effective from midnight of December 25 until one minute before December 27, and again from midnight of December 31 until one minute before January 2.
“On the above specified days, all units of the NPA are directed to go into active defense mode especially in the face of relentless military operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against peasant communities and guerrilla fronts across the country,” the CPP said in a statement.
The CPP added that during their four-day ceasefire, all Red commanders and Red fighters must remain on high alert against “treacherous ground and aerial attacks of the AFP.”
“They must work closely with the masses, and must be ever ready to maneuver or counter-attack, when necessitated by the situation,” the Party said.
The CPP also urged NPA units and local peasant organizations to conduct cultural and educational activities in time for the CPP’s 57th anniversary.
Traditionally implemented by the CPP and NPA, Yuletide ceasefire declarations are sometimes reciprocated by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), particularly during formal and back-channel peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
The last CPP Christmas ceasefire declaration was on December 25 and 26, 2023, following simultaneous announcements weeks earlier by the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government and the NDFP regarding discussions to revive formal peace negotiations.
It was not reciprocated by the AFP, which instead ordered continued military operations against the NPA.
The GRP has yet to respond to this year’s ceasefire declaration by the CPP.
In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July, Marcos Jr. ordered his government’s security forces to eliminate the NPA once and for all by year’s end.
The AFP reported earlier this year that there are no longer any active NPA guerrilla fronts in the country, marking what it claimed as the GRP’s strategic victory over the underground revolutionary army.
However, a series of armed encounters between the AFP and NPA erupted across the country after the president’s SONA, proving his claims false.
Last Saturday, another armed encounter between the NPA and the 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army occurred in San Jose de Buan, Samar, according to the CPP.
The clash resulted in the death of two government soldiers reportedly belonging to the Military Intelligence Battalion of the said AFP unit. (ZIA LUNA)
