Communist rebels are preying on indigenous people (IP) by pretending they are concerned about their plight, the military said on Monday.

Col. Noel Detoyato, public affairs office chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said the New People’s Army (NPA) had been duping the IP, or “lumad,” into joining the armed movement by accusing the military of atrocities in their communities.

The Communist Party of the Philippines alleged that soldiers had been imposing food, aid and information blockade in the IP’s evacuation center at Barangay Diatagon, Surigao del Sur.

But Detoyato said government services had not reached the lumad because the insurgents were blocking them.

“We all know their … ‘bakwit tactic.’ They create a drama where they act concerned about their victims, the lumad,” he said. —Jeannette I. Andrade