NPA ambush on relief troops validates Yuletide truce halt

FILE: The assault only firms up the government’s decision to discontinue peace negotiations with the NPAs, AFP acting spokesperson, Col. Edgard Arevalo said late Sunday. (Photo: PTV/Joy Gumatay/Facebook)

MANILA— The unprovoked New People’s Army (NPA) attack on troops conducting relief operations in ‘Urduja’-battered Northern Samar is the reason why the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is not keen on having a Yuletide truce with the communist terrorists.

The assault only firms up the government’s decision to discontinue peace negotiations with the NPAs, AFP acting spokesperson, Col. Edgard Arevalo said late Sunday.

“We condemn this attack. It only manifested the true color of these communist terrorists. This only validated the aptness of government’s decision to terminate the peace negotiations and to discontinue the traditional Christmas truce,” he added.

Arevalo said the rebel attack on soldiers on their way to conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations is an affront, not to the military, but to the Filipinos’ sense of love and compassion to their countrymen affected by ‘Urduja’.

Last Dec. 16, soldiers from the 20th Infantry Battalion, a field unit of the 8th Infantry Division, was headed for Barangay Hinagonoyan, Catubig, Northern Samar for relief missions when fired upon by some 50 communist terrorists at around 3:20 p.m.

The firefight lasted for an hour which resulted in the wounding of two government troops namely, Cpl. Yzazel M. Laure and Pfc. Ronald. L Gomez.