BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Communist guerrillas will end a ceasefire and "transition from an active defense posture to an offensive posture" on Friday, the Communist Party of the Philippines said.
The CPP said the government's refusal to extend a ceasefire that it had declared at the start of the Luzon quarantine—President Rodrigo Duterte has again said that there will be no more peace talks with the rebels—have made it impossible its own ceasefire.
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It said that even after the government announced a ceasefire on March 16, troops in at least 396 villages in 148 towns had been "conducting combat operations, aerial bombardments and artillery shelling, aerial surveillance and ground intelligence operations, arresting civilians, and violating people's rights with impunity."
The government has also accused the rebels of breaking the ceasefire and attacking troops that it said were conducting COVID-19 relief operations.
Despite government allegations, the CPP said "all units of the [New People's Army] have observed the ceasefire and desisted from mounting any tactical offensives, while successfully defending themselves and the masses and thwarting the raids and treacherous attacks mounted by the AFP in their relentless counterinsurgency operations."
The CPP said it has also ordered the NPA "(to) mount tactical offensives especially against the most notorious human rights violators and those who have subjected people to abuse, while targeting the isolated and weak units and detachments of the AFP and its armed auxiliaries."