Here we go again! Another of the AFP's top brass vows to crush the NPA.
The chief of the newly-assigned 901st Infantry Brigade (901Bde) in Surigao del Norte has vowed to "decisively address" the threat of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) in the region.
In a statement to the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Friday, Col. George L. Banzon said the recent deployment of the brigade to the Caraga region is "attuned to the President’s (Rodrigo R. Duterte) marching order to end the local communist armed conflict in the country."
Based in the Surigao del Norte town of Placer, 901Bde welcomed Banzon as its new commander in a turn-over ceremony on Wednesday.
Banzon underscored the importance of EO 70, saying it promotes participatory governance, "the synergy of government development efforts and enhancing the participation and responsibilities of local government units."
It does not seem as if Col. Banzon actually vowed to crush the NPA. Instead he said he will "decisively address" the situation. To that end Col. Banzon said EO 70 is important to ending the insurgency. EO 70 is the whole-of-nation approach which aims to address and fix the underlying causes of the rebellion. Part of this approach is the E-CLIP program.
The E-CLIP (together with the Amnesty Program) was also aligned with the implementation of the NTF-ELCAC pursuant to EO 70.
While the AFP does engage the NPA in firefights it does not appear they want to crush the NPA at all. They would rather the rebels surrender and take all the benefits that come with amnesty which include housing, training, and money.
A former member of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) has vowed to work hard to have a good future as he starts a new life with the PHP104,000 cash benefits given to him by the government.
In a simple ceremony in Trinidad town on Tuesday, alias "Ben", a former rebel operating in Bohol who surrendered in 2018, received from Governor Arthur Yap a PHP15,000-cash assistance, PHP50,000-livelihood assistance and PHP39,000 representing the government remuneration of the firearms he surrendered to the authorities.
"Ben" said he is grateful that the government gave him a chance to start a new life through the “abundant assistance”.
Seeing the adverse effects of the atrocities committed by his armed group on the community, "Ben" eventually thought of ending his personal armed struggle and decided to turn himself back to the fold of law. He also surrendered his .45-caliber pistol.
1st Lt. Elma Grace Remonde, 47th Infantry “Katapatan” Battalion’s civil military operations officer, said the financial assistance to "Ben" was given through President Rodrigo Duterte's Executive Order No. 70 implementing the whole-of-nation approach in ending insurgency.
The program, she said, is also aligned with the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), a national program to help former rebels by way of livelihood and other assistance.
EO No. 70 mandated the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to synchronize the use of resources and capabilities of government instrumentalities and private sector stakeholders in ending the atrocities by the communist terrorist group.
Remonde, addressing the rebels, said the “Army in Bohol will never get tired of urging you to return to the fold of law and avail the programs of our governments for you”.
P104,000 surely is "abundant assistance" for one man. What atrocities did he commit with his group? Whatever they were he will never be held accountable for them now.
A total of 11 former rebels (FRs) received checks amounting to PHP86,000 each on Tuesday from the head of the government’s Task Force Balik Loob, which oversees the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP).
Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., commander of the Philippine Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, said a total of 604 former rebels have already turned over 114 firearms to government security forces since E-CLIP’s maiden implementation in Luzon and Visayas on Aug. 14, 2018 at Tanauan City, Batangas.
He said out of the total number of surrenderers, 144 surfaced this year, 109 of whom came from Region 4-A while the remaining 35 were from Mindoro Provinces. These returnees yielded 25 firearms to the government security forces.
“All in all, around PHP16.262 million worth of grants, have been distributed to our former rebels,” he said.
“The former rebels under our care, and those who will decide to give up the armed struggle in the coming days, will be assisted by our troops in claiming their benefits, ensuring their safety and promoting their well-being as they rejoin our society as responsible and productive Filipinos,” he added.
Burgos expressed optimism that more terrorists will return to the fold of government in the coming days as many in the underground movement’s rank are demoralized because of the recent signing of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Under E-CLIP, qualified former rebels can avail up to PHP700,000 worth of government grants which they can use to start in living peaceful lives after turning their backs from the underground movement.
Maj. Gen. Burgos is not looking to crush the rebellion. He hopes the rebels are demoralized by the new Anti-Terrorism Law and will surrender. But why would they be demoralized? The insurgency has lasted 50 years. According to the opinion of former Supreme Court Justice Antonion Carpio the new anti-terrorism law will not pave the way to declaring the CPP-NPA a terrorist group.
Mr. Duterte and Lacson are both sadly mistaken, because under the ATA rebels are not terrorists and cannot be declared as terrorists. First, in defining terrorism the ATA deleted all the predicate crimes, like rebellion and coup d’etat, listed in the definition of terrorism in the Human Security Act of 2007 (HSA). The crime of terrorism in the ATA is now a separate and distinct stand-alone crime, unlike in the HSA where the predicate crimes, like rebellion and coup d’etat, were the means of committing the crime of terrorism.
Second, the ATA has been carefully worded “to differentiate terrorism from coup d’etat, rebellion, and sedition.” This is clearly shown in the Senate deliberations on the ATA.
Third, under the ATA, whether an act is rebellion, coup d’etat, or terrorism depends on the intent of the person committing the offense.
Fourth, the House of Representatives adopted entirely, without amendment or discussion, the Senate version of the anti-terrorism bill. This means that the House also adopted the intent and interpretation of the Senate of the provisions of the anti-terrorism bill.
There can be no dispute that the ATA does not criminalize as terrorism acts that constitute rebellion. If the acts constitute rebellion, then the crime committed will be rebellion and not terrorism. The intent of rebels is to remove any territory or military force of the Philippines from allegiance to the Government or its laws, or to deprive the President or Congress of any of their powers. The intent of terrorists is to intimidate the public and the Government, create fear, or destabilize the political, economic, and social structure of the country.
CPP-NPA rebels, whose intent is clearly rebellion, are not terrorists under the ATA, and consequently they, individually or as a group, cannot be proscribed as terrorists under the ATA.
According to Carpio the CPP-NPA are classified as rebels and not terrorists under the new law while under the old law they could be classified as terrorists. That is a glaring deficiency in the new law. Perhaps this classification issue will be challenged in court by the DOJ. Regardless, this is an interesting opinion and is not unlike that of Duterte when he was mayor of Davao.
In Thursday’s trade expo, Duterte said, “I can talk, but I can’t talk them out of their ideology. You have to realize the Communist Party is entering its 45th year here. You have to admit there’s been historical injustice committed on the people.”
Duterte said the national government should deal with the revolutionary groups by talking peace.
“Crimes I can deal with it. But with the revolutionary (groups), I give it to the (national) government, but here, I advised government not to make arrests of revolutionaries” he said.
Even Duterte called them revolutionaries and advised against arresting them. He has seemingly changed his tune now. As ever it remains to be seen just
what will happen with the status of the CPP-NPA under the new law.
The AFP was crowing earlier in the week about four high level NPA officers being caught.
Four alleged officials of the communist insurgents were collared in Barangay Magballo, Kabankalan City, about 103 km south of here, according to military officials.
In a statement, the Army’s 15th Infantry (Molave Warrior) Battalion identified the four as Emmylo Cañares, 38; George Buga-ay, 42; Relyn Moreno, 22; and Raffy Patajo, 21.
Based on the statement, Cañares, of San Fernando town, Cebu was said to be the secretary of the Second National Urban Center Party Committee (2NUCPC) of the New People’s Army (NPA).
Buga-ay, who is from Kabankalan, was allegedly the finance logistics officer of the Regional Strike Forces.
Moreno, also from Kabankalan, was identified as Regional Communication (RCOM) staff of KR-N while Patajo, of Ilog town in Negros Occidental, was the alleged squad leader of Platoon 2, South West Front, and a Regional Communication Staff of KR-N.
Recovered from their possession were firearms and explosives including a. 45 caliber pistol, a .38 caliber revolver loaded with five ammunition, four hand grenades; P24,000 in cash, cellular phones, and chargers, USBs, subversive documents and personal belongings, the Army said.
Lt. Col. Erwin Cariño, 15IB Commanding Officer, described the arrest as a “major setback” on the part of the NPA rebels operating on Negros Island.
Capturing these four high ranking officers sounds good but the CPP issued a statement saying these are not their people.
They are not even members of the NPA, rebel spokesman Ka Juanito Magbanua claimed, adding that those arrested are but victims of the government intensifying of state terrorism, targeting innocent civilians and labeling them as NPA top brass for bounty and to demoralize the revolutionary movement.
Maj. Cenon Pancito III, Public Affairs Office chief of the 3rd Infantry Division, said yesterday that there is nothing new in the denial of Magbanua, stressing that they are masters in making excuses each time their group commits blunders and are now crippled by the series of combined operations against them.
Maybe they are NPA members and maybe not. One thing's for sure the NPA assassinates ex-rebels suspected of being informants. The AFP caught one of those assassins this week.
Police and military personnel arrested on Tuesday a notorious member of the New People’s Army responsible for the mass execution in Leyte in the 1980s.
Armed with a warrant of arrest, operatives of newly created Joint Task Force “Tandaya” nabbed Felomino Salazar Jr., 69, in Tinago village, Inopacan, Leyte. He is an executive committee member of the NPA Southern Leyte Front.
The Philippine Army reported on Wednesday that the Regional Trial Court of the National Capital Judicial Region Branch 32 issued the arrest warrant for Salazar for 15 counts of murder committed during the infamous NPA purging in the late 1980s.
The activity dubbed “Oplan Venereal Disease” has killed about 300 Leyte residents suspected by NPA as military informants.
“Salazar was then part of the dreaded CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines)-NPA intelligence group whose main task during the implementation of the 'Oplan Venereal Disease' was to identify, arrest, investigate and execute suspected government informants within their organization,” said PA 802nd Infantry Brigade Commander Col. Zosimo Oliveros in a statement.
Former comrades who already surrendered to government tagged Salazar as the executioner of the victims of the NPA purging by the CPP central committee to cleanse its ranks of suspected government agents.
Based on accounts of the military and witnesses, most of the victims bore brutal marks of crushed skulls with eyes still blindfolded. They suffered severe flesh wounds and broken bones before they were shot multiple times.
The skeletal remains of 67 persons were exhumed from shallow graves at Subang Daku village in Inopacan town on Aug. 28, 2006, through the help of villagers.
Salazar did not resist arrest since he claimed that he already surrendered to the mayor.
He also owned up to the murders without a feeling of remorse, the military said.
No E-CLIP benefits for this guy. No E-CLIP benefits for the 124 terrorists killed so far this year either.
Some 124 terrorists were killed in 279 armed encounters against communist and local terror groups in the first semester of 2020, the Philippine Army (PA) said on Saturday.
In a statement, Army commander Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay said 95 others were captured while 422 firearms were seized from these operations despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis.
"Moreover, the convergence of efforts of various government agencies, local government units, civil society organizations, local communities, and the security sector have facilitated the surrender of 1,705 terrorists with 378 assorted firearms with the aggressive implementation of the whole-of-nation approach through the National Task Force in Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC)," he said.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
Technically and legally the Philippines does not list the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization as the DOJ has not designated them as such. Taken as a whole these numbers do not point to the AFP crushing the NPA. With 124 killed, 95 captured, and 1,705 surrendered it seems clear that the AFP is placing their bets on the rebels peacefully surrendering.
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