Despite the government's declaration of a unilateral ceasefire with the communists, the Philippine Army is monitoring the movement of the rebels in the country.

This was mentioned by Philippine Army Chief Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay in an interview with reporters during the 123rd anniversary celebration of the Philippine Army on Monday.

Gapay said the Army has not yet recorded incidents or offensives by communist rebels since a truce was declared by President Rodrigo Duterte last week.

"There are no reported incidents yet but we have been monitoring movements of NPA (New People's Army). We are now on a defensive posture so that we could really focus sa task at hand to contain this COVID-19," he said.

"We are monitoring movements of NPA's in certain areas of our country especially their lair," he added.

Gapay said the truce will not prevent the soldiers to fight in case the rebels launch an attack.

"As far as the ceasefire is concerned, we fully support the directive of the president, the PA is observing the ceasefire but of course it would not prevent us from defending ourselves in case we are attacked or in case communities are attacked by the NPA," he said.

"This was declared by the president for us to focus in our mission at hand that is to combat this 2019 novel coronavirus," he added.

The unilateral ceasefire declared by the government which started on March 19, 2020 will last until April 15, 2020. Robina Asido/DMS