DND chief defends reward offer for every NPA killed

MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana defended President Duterte’s offer of a P25,000 cash reward for each New People’s Army (NPA) rebel killed by civilians, as he slammed the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) for claiming that this move would fuel war crimes.

“Stop (this) hypocrisy,” Lorenzana told HRW, saying that fighting the rebels and terrorists in the country is a legitimate government function.

HRW accused Duterte of inciting “war crimes” for offering a cash reward for every communist insurgent killed.

The President later increased the P20,000 reward to P25,000 for each insurgent killed.

HRW said the President’s pronouncements only prove government security forces “can do as they wish to defeat their enemies, including committing summary executions.”

“Duterte’s offer of a bounty for killing communist rebels encourages war crimes, such as shooting enemy fighters who have surrendered or are wounded,” the HRW said.

Lorenzana, however disagreed with HRW. He said the group, whom he described as unreasonably biased against the military, had been silent on all the atrocities committed against civilians and soldiers by the communist rebels.

He said HRW was even silent when Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison had ordered the NPA to kill one soldier every day.

Lorenzana stressed that for as long as the there is a need for government forces to protect civilian communities, soldiers and policemen will be around to perform their mandate to protect the people and the state.

He said the government will do everything in its power to protect the communities and uphold the rule of law while fighting the insurgents and other threat groups.

Meanwhile, Malacañang said the government’s campaign against insurgency would continue despite Duterte’s assurance to Norway’s special envoy for the talks with communists that his administration is committed to peace. – With Alexis Romero, Artemio Dumlao