Government announces unilateral halt to operations against New People's Army

The army’s chief of staff, General Gregorio Pio Catapang, said the unilateral suspension of military and police operations against the New People’s Army would begin at midnight Dec. 18 and end on Jan. 18.

The traditional Christmas ceasefire does not apply to other insurgent groups such as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Abu Sayyaf, both Islamist groups fighting for independence in the southern Philippines.

"The ASG [Abu Sayyaf Group] and the BIFF, we will continue to hunt them," Catapang said.

In a statement, Teresita Quintos Deles, the presidential adviser on the peace process, said the suspension of hostilities would allow the “unhampered rehabilitation of calamity-affected communities, many of which are also conflict-affected.”

The New People’s Army is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines and was formed in 1969.

Source http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/150899/seasonal-ceasefire-for-philippine-communist-insurgents