Insurgency: Agents of Peace

Last week the AFP said surrendering rebels are heroes. Not only are those people heroes but they are also "agents of peace." At least the government is training them to be such. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117149

At the heart of the Duterte administration’s Peace and Development Agenda is the ongoing transformation of more than 15,000 former rebels and insurgents into peaceful and productive civilians. 

Amid the challenges brought about by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, the government, through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), continues to push forward the comprehensive Philippine peace process. 

From the decommissioning of ex-fighters, to the virtual peace dialogues, to the community-driven projects in conflict-affected areas, to fulfilling the government’s commitments under signed peace agreements, OPAPP has continued to sustain the gains of peace. 

Twenty four years after the signing of the Final Peace Agreement between the government and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the Duterte administration continues to engage the organization’s two groups -- led by Founding Chair Nur Misuari and Yusop Jikiri -- in peaceful dialogue. 

“Our primary goal is to fulfill all the promises we have made under the 1996 peace agreement. This is among the marching orders of the President,” Galvez emphasized. 

Since President Duterte took office, he and members of his cabinet have held several meetings with Chairman Nur Misuari, where the latter committed to help the government ensure peace and development specially in the province of Sulu.

The OPAPP has multiple peace programs throughout the country. From touting gains with the MILF via the BARMM to localized peace agreements with various rebel groups the government is doing what it thinks best to sustain peace in the Philippines. 

Funny that Galvez says the government has as a primary goal the fulfillment of the 1996 peace agreement. They fulfilled that agreement and the Tripoli agreement with the establishment of the ARMM. It is the MNLF that reneged on the deal. Why even continue to bother with Misuari?

The troops have also been told to ramp up their peace efforts.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1116926

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff, Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay, has urged all Southern Luzon Command (SolCom) officers and enlisted personnel to intensify their efforts so that peace can be won against communist terrorists in the Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions. 

"We must prove through our actions the qualities that distinguish the Filipino soldier. Always remain respectful and humble. We should never be complacent and sit down on our laurels. We should always do our jobs and accomplish them to the best of our abilities," he said in a statement released on Tuesday. 

"I am proud and elated to know that SolCom continues to gain ground in sustaining our joint and interagency operations that have resulted in the significant reduction of communist insurgents in your area of responsibility," he added. 

He cited the surrender of eight New People's Army (NPA) members at Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro last September 20, which according to him, showed the sincerity and genuine efforts of the government in employing the whole-of-nation approach. 

A total of 408 communist armed members and supporters were neutralized in Southern Tagalog and Bicol so far this year. 

This includes 35 who were killed, 334 who surrendered, and 39 apprehended in various internal security and community support operations. 

"Let us sustain this momentum so that we can finally bring just and lasting peace in the country," Gapay said.

What does he mean by intensifying their efforts so that peace can be won? Out of 408 NPA terrorists neutralized this year only 35 were killed. Of the 334 who surrendered it is not clear how many are actually NPA fighters.

The AFP has many ways of fighting the NPA to win the peace. One of them is posting on social media.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1116966

"The AFP views Facebook and other (social media) outfits as platforms to disseminate accurate information that would empower our people to see through the lies and reject terrorist organizations masquerading as pro-people," AFP spokesperson Marine Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said in a media statement. 

He also expressed hope that Facebook could be the medium that will help consolidate peoples’ support to the AFP as their true defenders of the state against its enemies. 

The AFP thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for questioning Facebook's decision to take down accounts and pages advocating “something” that is good for the people. 

"We are thankful (for) the Commander-in-Chief’s expression of support to the AFP’s campaign that, after all, may well be every Filipinos’ war against the Communist Terrorist Group NPA—to include affiliated underground mass organizations— that have caused the misery of our people for more than 50 years," Arevalo said.

This is an admission that Facebook was correct in saying that the pages they took down were linked to the PNP and AFP. How effective is the AFP's social media campaign in sustaining peace? The head of the Philippines' intelligence agency, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Director-General Alex Paul I. Monteagudo, says sharing anti-red propaganda on Facebook is a way to defend the nation.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117500

"I am sharing the posts of the officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) because I believe that it is the duty of every Filipino to defend our  Constitution,  our democracy,  and our people against groups such as the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front) that seek to violently overthrow our duly constituted government," he said in a statement forwarded to the Philippine News Agency Sunday. 

"Thus, I shared posts in my FB because I see them as artistic expressions of our people similar to the sentiments of former rebels, Indigenous  Peoples  (IPs)  victims, and parents who have finally gained the courage to stand up and reveal the truth about members of the CPP who are now in  Congress, the  Makabayan bloc led by Congressman Zarate, masquerading as defenders of  'human rights', when they are actually part of a terrorist organization that has killed thousands of Filipinos, destroyed many families and robbed the Filipino people of the peaceful and prosperous lives we all dream of," he added.

Sharing posts from the AFP and the NTF-ECLAC is one thing. They are official government agneinces after all. But what are these posts he calls "artistic expressions?" 

Monteagudo confirmed that he had shared “quite a number of times” posts from Facebook pages titled “Global Public,” “Peace Philippines,” “Pinoy Exposé,” and “Philippine Untold News.” 

The NICA chief frequently shares the contents of these pages, four of the 21 sites he often takes posts from, according to Kabataan Rep. Sarah Jane Elago. 

“What these pages are sharing are not a joke as they endanger the lives of people contained in these posts. Shouldn’t the NICA chief be more responsible since he is the director general of the premier intelligence agency of the government?” Elago said.These pages, Elago said, also supported the shutdown of ABS CBN and the filing of criminal cases against Rappler and its president and CEO, Maria Ressa.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1342278/intel-agency-chief-grilled-over-fake-news-posts-he-shared

Those FB pages could certainly be called "artistic expressions." They are full of bad memes, heavy handed propaganda, and very little substance. It's not enough to accuse Makabayan of being communist terrorists.  If they have the evidence then those people should be arrested and prosecuted accordingly. 

These accusations, red tagging, are not going away anytime soon. If the AFP and PNP have evidence that these groups are CPP fronts then why aren't they using that evidence to shut them down? Why are they allowed to exist? Why are alleged communists allowed to be members of the House of Representatives?

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/09/insurgency-front-groups.html

Another way the AFP and the government is fighting the NPA to win the peace is by building roads

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117200

The continuous opening and rehabilitation of roads undertaken by Army engineers in remote areas, coupled with military offensives, suppressed the movements of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) terrorists in the province. 

Col. Emerito Pineda, commander of the Army's 547th Engineer Battalion, underscored Thursday the importance of infrastructure projects in helping eradicate insurgency in far-flung villages by accelerating the delivery of basic services and the government's anti-poverty programs. 

Pineda said a battalion from the Army's 55th Engineer Brigade based in Baloi, Lanao del Norte, was sent to reinforce the 547th Engineer Battalion on Wednesday to undertake a road opening and rehabilitation project in barangays Datu Tutukan and Labangon in Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur. 

Once completed, he said the project would put more pressure on the NPA rebels in Dumingag, the site of recent clashes between the government troops and the rebels. 

“Once development reached their communities, NPA recruitment and support will stop and basic services could reach these isolated communities as they have now their roads,” he said.   

Pineda also called on the remaining NPA rebels to surrender, lest they "face the might of the military. They could either get wounded or worse, killed in encounters."

These kind of projects are part of the anti-insurgency task force whose budget is being questioned.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1342769/p16b-for-anti-insurgency-task-force-questioned

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) does not have to provide P16.4 billion worth of development projects to barangays already freed from communist rebel influence, according to Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who said the money would be better used for health programs. 

Under the government’s anti-insurgency campaign, 822 remote barangays will each get P20 million from the fund allocated in the 2021 budget of the task force to improve the conditions of the villages to prevent them from being swayed again by the New People’s Army (NPA), the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. 

Such development projects could be handled by existing departments, Hontiveros said at Thursday’s hearing on the 2021 budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government. 

She said the task force itself was a nonessential agency and expressed concern that the P16.4 billion might be used for the next elections or to curry political favors. 

“The NTF-Elcac entered the picture even if the script of good local governance, of the interior, is clear to address the roots of the insurgency. It appears the NT-Elcac is miscast,” Hontiveros said, calling the task force a “surplusage.” 

At an online press briefing also on Thursday, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, the NTF-Elcac vice chair, defended the proposed allocation for the so-called Barangay Development Program (BDP). He said those who opposed it could be rebel supporters. 

“Who is against the project? Who doesn’t want this to happen? I think if you are against this, if you don’t want this to materialize, maybe you are in favor of the NPA, right?” Esperon said.

Building roads is good. Developing communities is good. One wonders why the various agencies tasked with such endeavors have not done so before. Being concerned about government waste does not mean one is in favor of the NPA as Esperon alleges.

Esperon alleges that these projects will develop the economy and weaken the communists.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1342684/p16-4b-for-villages-to-weaken-reds-develop-economy-says-esperon

The P16.4 billion budget being sought for a counterinsurgency program to bring projects to villages would lead to economic development in the long-run and weaken communist rebels, according to National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon on Thursday (Oct. 1). 

“In the long run we will not be continually addressing a conflict. Instead, we are building resilient communities that will bring economic development to the countryside,” Esperon said. 

“NPA will lose its source of strength,” he said in Filipino, referring to New People’s Army, the armed component of Communist Party of the Philippines. 

The NPA has been waging a countryside rebellion for 50 years already, fuelled by agrarian unrest and social injustice in areas where there’s barely any government presence. It has become one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies. 

Esperon said while the village development programs appeared to be costly, it would be more expensive to “forever maintain” one company of an infantry unit, which he estimated would cover three villages. 

“If there would be no guerrilla bases, they can’t hide anymore,” Esperon said in Filipino about communist rebels. He said the villages had been “neglected that’s why they cling to an organization that gives false hopes.”

Again one wonders why there has not been constant development of the nation for the past 50 years. Why allow the nation to rot? Why not connect it with electricity? Why does everyone not have clean water and proper toilet facilities? Those are not question we can answer here.

Aside from building roads and posting on social media there is always the good old fashioned way to quench the rebellion. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117480

"In order to address the challenges of our campaign against the communist terrorist group, I direct our commanders to focus on the dismantling of the enemy's so-called guerilla fronts," he said in a statement late Sunday. 

Gapay made the announcement following the AFP's dismantling of eight guerilla fronts in the first three quarters of the year – three in Mindanao, two in Visayas, and three in Luzon. 

The AFP also prevented eight already dismantled guerilla fronts from recovering this year. 

"The AFP has achieved significant gains in our campaigns in the areas of internal security and external defense. I urge everyone to continue to exert utmost effort and dedication in the performance of respective tasks towards the accomplishment of our mandate," he said.

It's not as if the AFP has let up on their efforts to hunt down Muslims and communists.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117414

Government troops discovered a hideout of the Daesh-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Ampatuan town on Friday afternoon. 

In a report, Lt. Col. Omar Orozco, commander of the Army’s 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion (MIB), said the BIFF lair was discovered by patrolling soldiers in Sitio Talpok, Barangay Salman, Ampatuan. 

“The camp can accommodate some 50 persons,” he said. 

Found in the camp were three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with accessories, assorted ammunition, a handheld radio, and a bag with personal belongings. 

“Military bomb disposal experts immediately deactivated the IEDs and took it to safety,” he said.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117399

Two communist guerillas were killed during an encounter with government forces in the hinterlands of Magpet, North Cotabato on Friday. 

The clashes occurred in Purok 3, Barangay Malire, Antipas town, reported Lt. Col. Rey Alvarado, commander of the Army’s 72nd Infantry Battalion (72IB). 

Alvarado said residents have repeatedly told soldiers about the presence of some 30 heavily armed fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the village, apparently waiting for food supplies from the locals. 

Following a 30-minute firefight, the guerillas withdrew deep into the forest and left two dead comrades. 

Found beside the slain rebels were an M14 rifle, three M14 magazines with ammunition, one bandolier, an anti-personnel mine, an improvised explosive device switch detonator, subversive documents, medical supplies, and personal belongings of their fleeing comrades.

After 50 years the insurgency remains mainly a war of attrition. A commie here, a muslim there. Whether surrendered or dead it's one rebel at a time.