The New People’s Army (NPA)-Northern Samar (Rodante Urtal Command) refuted the 78th IB claim that it excavated and recovered 12 command-detonated explosives (CDEx) buried by the people’s army. The 78th IB’s commander Lt. Col. Francis Rosales boasted in a statement that they recovered the explosives in Barangay Magsaysay, Mapanas on July 6.
The NPA-Northern Samar clearly stated that they have no CDEx stored in Barangay Magsaysay or nearby areas. The unit also ridiculed the battalion’s statement for showing its desperation in recycling old CDEx just to project their succeess against the NPA.
“These fascist troops are apparently not content with their fat military salaries, allowances and bonuses and thus seek to be rewarded for recycling years-old war material,” the NPA provincial command added. They compared this military tactic to recycling “surrenderees” for kickbacks and corruption.
NPA-Northern Samar also contradicted the 78th IB’s claim that the people’s army’s use of CDEx violates international humanitarian law. the Ottawa Treaty permits the NPA’s use of these explosives contrary to the 78th IB’s claims.
The Ottawa Treaty, or The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of 1997 of the United Nations, prohibits the use of anti-personnel mines (APM) or landmines that cannot distinguish targets.
CDEx differ from other APM on the fundamental basis that NPA elements control and detonate them only at command for legitimate military targets of the people’s army’s military actions. This is unlike other APM such as booby traps that explode when simply stepped on by a person or animal. CDEx have specific targets, unlike APM such as booby traps that can harm civilians.
The NPA-Northern Samar stressed that CDEx are very different from the 500-pound “smart bombs” of the AFP. “[The AFP’s bombs] are actually quite stupid for causing indiscriminate damage to farmlands as well as trauma to civilian communities,” the unit added.
“The peasant masses of Northern Samar are not fooled by the 78th IB’s lies,” the unit said.
According to them, the peasant masses in the province witness daily the military’s countless human rights violations and suffer from the worsening economic crisis. “It is by these conditions that the NPA continues to receive the people’s warm support,” the unit stated.
