MANILA, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Maoist rebels in the Philippines declared a 5-day ceasefire over the Christmas period on Friday, after the government said it would not launch any offensive operations in the period.
A rebel statement posted on the website of the Communist Party of the Philippines said New People's Army (NPA) fighters were restrained from initiating offensives to allow the country to celebrate a violence-free Christmas holidays.
"In unity with the Filipino people's holiday traditions, the NPA was instructed to observe truce from Dec. 24 to 26 and Dec. 31 and Jan 1," the rebel statement said.
The rebel leadership said the 5,000-member NPA, active in 69 of 81 provinces in the country, would remain in a defensive mode because it did not trust the military to abide by its own ceasefire.
The government has said its forces will observe the truce on Dec 24-25 and Dec 31-Jan 1.
The rebels will also observe a truce on Dec. 26, the anniversary of the 1968 founding of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
The communist insurgency has killed about 40,000 people and stunted economic growth in the country.
Since 1986, the government has traditionally observed a holiday ceasefire with communist rebels as the mainly Roman Catholic country celebrates one of the world's longest Christmas seasons.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered the military to wipe out the communist insurgency before she steps down in 2010.
Military chief General Alexander Yano said on Friday the army has destroyed more than 30 out of a total of 100 guerrilla bases since last year.
He told Reuters he was confident of reaching the target of reducing the number of rebel bases by 80 percent by 2010, but added fighting with Muslim rebels had slowed the campaign.
(Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Sugita Katyal)