Philippines President Gloria Arroyo on Thursday declared a unilateral three-week Christmas ceasefire with communist guerrillas and urged them to stop attacks. This came just after the insurgents raided a police station in the northern town of Caranglan late Wednesday and carted off five M16 rifles and police cellphones, a military report said. “We are expecting the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army) leadership to reciprocate the unilateral ceasefire of the government in respect to the essence of the Yuletide season,” Arroyo’s spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement. He made no mention of the latest spate of NPA raids.Reacting to the raid on the police station, military chief Lieutenant General Efren Abu warned he would ask Arroyo to lift the ceasefire if the NPA continued to stage attacks. “If they continue to attack our people… I will recommend to the president that the ceasefire be lifted,” he told reporters. The military said earlier the truce, which ends on January 5, would allow soldiers in this largely Christian archipelago to spend the holidays with their loved ones. But the military stressed despite the ceasefire, the armed forces would remain on alert to thwart any major attacks expected as the CPP marks its 36th anniversary on December 26.
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