The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) reported on Monday (July 10, 2023) that the current strength of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and National Democratic Front (NDF), has been tremendously reduced to around 1,800 members from a peak of 24,000 in the mid-80s, with only one remaining active guerrilla front operating in Northern Samar.
“Indeed, we have achieved strategic victory as far as countering the communist insurgency is concerned,” AFP spokesperson Colonel Medel Aguilar said during a virtual press conference hosted by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Earlier, Chief of Staff General Andres Centino, during a command conference last week at Camp Aguinaldo, revealed that the AFP is now shifting from internal security operations (ISO) to external defense operations (EDO).
Of the 1,800, 400 of them are already identified and facing criminal charges, and all of them are the subject of “focused military operations.”
“They should think of getting back to their families and to the folds of the law,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar said some of those identified NPA fighters are holding key positions in the CPP-NPA-NDF, a factor that must be considered, as they are the ones holding their comrades not to surrender or “waiting to be given graceful exit.”
He said that over the past few months, more than 600 NPA members were either killed in combat operations or voluntarily surrendered to the government, further reducing the figure from more than 2,400 back in 2008.
He said military operations are now focused in Northern Samar.
“We are already focusing there… to prevent and suppress the violence that could be coming from this remaining active guerrilla front,” Aguilar said.
Dismantling the politico-military structure of the CPP-NPA-NDF is the key objective of the AFP to achieve a total victory. This can only be achieved “when the CPP is no longer capable of mounting atrocities or violent activities that will harm our community and disrupt our progress.”
“Now, this also calls for the clearing of all affected barangays or even those threatened to make sure that when this shift is focused on territorial defense operation (TDO), there will be no ISO problem to look back, and by that… we expect that with the guidance and direction given by the President, we will be moving for you will be shifting to TDO. All of us are united towards that purpose,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar said the AFP is not abandoning its mandate for peaceful resolution of the local communist armed conflict as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s “bringers of peace” and as a potent instrument of unity.
“What is important is to win them back,” Aguilar said, noting that the AFP is very much open to recommending that “amnesty” should be offered to the insurgents.
“Amnesty is one way to end the insurgents,” he said, but to the leftist rebels, all the AFP spokesperson could recommend is to surrender and be one of their former comrades who was enlightened by the many interventions the government has done to them and their supporters since the inception of the NTF-ELCAC.
Aguilar said the NPA’s dwindled and weakened forces could no longer sustain their operations and advance political strategy, as even the residents and their local executives are turning their backs on them.
“They (CPP-NPA-NDF) were declared ‘persona non grata’,” Aguilar said, referring to most places the Communist Terrorist Group have infested but were cleared by the ‘focused military operations’ that drove them, and where the NTF-ELCAC poured projects for the development of these communities.
“We want to achieve total victory, for them (CTGs) not to be capable of carrying atrocities again,” Aguilar said, echoing the directives of the President to the AFP.
“We should end the local armed conflict now; we cannot let them stay for another 50 years,” he said, echoing the AFP top brass’ call to eliminate this year the remaining active front.
Aguilar said the AFP has been successful in dismantling the NPA mass bases and the removal of sectoral organizations as sources of funds and recruits. Most importantly, Aguilar said, those efforts being made by the NTF-ELCAC in rallying national government agencies and local government units (LGUs) to bring basic social services to far-flung communities vulnerable to NPA influence.
“For the LGUs, they should not be giving spaces for the NPA to launch their tactical offensives. This is total victory,” Aguilar added.
