LORETO, Agusan del Sur - Despite of the continuous harassment posed by the New People's Army (NPA), armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the peace and development projects intended to villagers, particularly those in far-flung areas will continue without let up, this was the statement of ranking commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), on Sunday. The area commander of the AFP in Southern Mindanao also said the AFP under the leadership of Chief of Staff General Ricardo David, the government troops will continue to liberate the remaining villages under the ''bondage'' of fear because of alleged harassment and force revolutionary taxation imposed by the CPP-NPA. Maj. General Jorge V. Segovia, commanding general of the AFP's 10th Infantry (Agila) Division (ID) has emphasized that the peace and development projects of the AFP units under his command will continue despite of the NPA harassments that are actually expected.
''The harassments are aimed to divert our attention away from implementing community projects but they will fail,'' stressed the 10th ID chief. He added: ''If they continue with their harassments and other violent activities, our soldiers will be there to protect the people, especially those in far-flung villages''. The Army's area command chief made this statement after field commanders reported the sporadic fires which lasted for around 15 minutes were heard on Thursday night in the southern village, as the soldiers and civilians were resting after a days work. ''Soldiers could only wait in their position to fight the trouble makers who belonged to the communist rebels,'' said 10th ID Public Information Officer Lt. Col. Medel M. Aguilar He said 10th ID has deployed teams of soldiers in the different barangays of Southern Mindanao region as the command (10th ID) intensifies its Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP). ''These soldiers are involved mainly in the conduct of dialogues with the people and in the planning and implementation of humanitarian assistance programs that will benefit the people. They are also there to protect the people from all threat groups, particularly the CPP-NPA,'' added the 10th ID PIO. On the other hand, Lt. Col. Lyndon Paniza, the commander of the 72nd Infantry Battalion to which the soldiers belong condemned the cowardly act of the NPA. He said, ''The NPA tried to provoke our soldiers into responding to their indiscriminate firing but they failed.
They only succeeded in demonstrating the violence that runs through their veins.'' Fortunately, no one from the soldiers and from the civilians was hurt during the harassment, he added.
