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Philippine Military Set to Resume Anti-NPA Drive
Philippine military is ready to launch large offensive operations against the leftist New People's Army (NPA) rebels, a senior military official said Wednesday.
Chief of Staff Diomedio Villanueva of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the military is just awaiting a go-signal from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
According to Villanueva, the planned military operations will be concentrated in selected areas of Southern Luzon and Southern Mindanao, where NPA atrocities have been reported.
A military report said earlier that 80 percent of the election- related killings were perpetrated by private armed groups of politicians while 18 percent were done by the NPA. The remaining two percent were attributed to the Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The death toll has surged to 100 in election-related violence in the four-month run-up to May 14 polls in the country, making it the bloodiest since the 1986 presidential snap elections, the military said.
Military offensives against the NPA were suspended following the resumption of peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Font, the NPA's political arm, last month.
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