By CRIS DIAZ
CAMP EVANGELISTA, Cagayan de Oro City: The military has recovered one more dead body of suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebel during the clearing operations Sunday by government troopers where a clash between the military and the armed communist rebels took place in Bukidnon on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2023.
In an online press conference here Monday, Maj. Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo II, Commander of the army’s Fourth Infantry Division, said that the latest recovery brings to a total of 10 rebels killed in the armed encounter in the hinterlands of Can-ayan and Mapulo, all outskirt villages of Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.
Cuerpo said that the military have been tailing the armed communist rebels since first week of December 2023 after receiving numerous reports about the presence of unidentified armed group in the area.
“We received reports that equipment of some contractors in the area were targeted for burning by the rebels prompting the military to dispatch routine armed patrol, ” Cuerpo said.
According to Cuerpo, the military organized a sustained offensive operations after identifying the exact location of the NPA before launching an attack, which coincided hours after the CPP-NPA declared a two-day unilateral ceasefire beginning Dec. 25 2023 until Dec. 26, 2023.
He said the army division did not received instruction from Malacañang or the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to stand down military operation in response to the CPP-NPA ceasefire.
Cuerpo said that the NPA fatalities remained unidentified although their bodies could be claimed in coordination with local government units and the military. “We suspect there were top NPA personalities who were killed on the Christmas Day clash with the military in Bukidnon, but there identities have yet to be known, ” Cuerpo said.
He said the military is willing to assist the families of the victims so that the remains of those killed be given decent burial. -0-
