Philippines’ New People’s Army (NPA) rebels reject govt ceasefire

The Philippines’ New People’s Army (NPA) rebels on Thursday rejected a unilateral ceasefire, which President Rodrigo Duterte had declared this week to allow the military to focus on the coronavirus pandemic. “The militarist lockdown on the whole of Luzon is meant not to fight the COVID-19 pandemic but to intimidate the people, suppress democratic rights, commit human rights violations,” Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the banned Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the NPA, said in a statement. Sison, who has been living in exile in the Netherlands for three decades, criticized the “strict quarantine” Duterte imposed on Monday across Luzon, the country’s main island and home to the capital, Manila, and the increase in military controls, reports Efe news. (IANS)

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