There's a new AFP Chief in town, Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana. He says the AFP should learn from its mistakes.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1392364/afp-chief-sobejana-vows-tough-actions-only-vs-enemies-of-state |
Newly-designated Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana said the military will not hurt anyone except for those identified as enemies of state.
“We need to look back kung ano ang erroneous things that we committed and we should learn from that so my instruction was that whenever we talk, whatever things we do, we must be deliberate, we must exercise due diligence para sa ganoon makapagbigay ng magandang serbisyo sa ating mga kababayan,” said Sobejana in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel, reacting to the red-tagging controversies and a military official’s latest tirades against an INQUIRER.net reporter.
“We should not hurt anybody unless he is an enemy of the state so we have to really identify the enemies of the state as what I have said so that walang collateral damage. Rest assured, magiging deliberate kami sa aming ginagawa,” he added.
AFP – Southern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. drew flak after he claimed that INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Tetch Torres-Tupas was aiding terrorists and spreading lies over her story titled, “Tortured Aetas seek SC help against anti-terror law.”
Parlade questioned if Tupas’ sources in the story were “propaganda machinery” of the communist rebels.
While General Sobejana is talking about red tagging his statement could apply to the whole 50 year insurgency. So many mistakes have been made. Failure to appreciate intelligence, failure to learn from operations, failure to properly secure rebel free areas and instead giving them up to LGUs thus allowing for a resurgence of rebels in the once cleared area. Based on past actions its safe to say the AFP will not be learning from its past mistakes in any capacity.
Paralade continues to make the mistake of inappropriately red-tagging individuals and some are calling for him to be fired. Even Senator Lacson thinks he is out of line.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1392666/lacson-parlades-careless-insensitive-remarks-not-helping-terror-law |
“Coming at a time when the solicitor general is defending the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 against 37 petitions, particularly on the issue involving ‘over-breadth doctrine’ among others, such remark from a high-ranking military official is uncalled for and totally unnecessary,” said Lacson, a principal author of the law, which was signed by President Duterte in July 2020.
Lacson criticized Parlade for being “careless and insensitive” in branding as “fake” and “propaganda” Tupas’ story about the two Aeta men who filed their own petition against the Anti-Terrorism Act on Feb. 2, the first day of oral arguments on the law in the Supreme Court.
This is not the first time Parlade has made a scandal. But will it be his last? Will he learn from his mistakes?
How about the mistake of making premature announcements about the imminent defeat of the NPA?
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129282 |
A total of 87 former Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) rebels from Northern and Central Luzon returned to the fold of the law and yielded some 16 assorted firearms in the first month of this year.
Lt. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo B. Burgos, chief of the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), said on Monday the surrenders were "manifestations that the terrorist group is nearing its end".
“The communist terrorists in Northern and Central Luzon are now on the brink of irreversible collapse. We have achieved decisive advantage against them, as manifested by the increasing number of surrenders from their ranks and the increasing number of their key personalities neutralized,” Burgos said in a statement.
The new surrenderers are in addition to the 396 former rebels who returned to mainstream society last year and yielded a total of 96 firearms.
The 87 former rebels who surrendered in January this year are currently processing their enrollment requirements to the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (ECLIP), Burgos said.
Out of the 396 former rebels who surrendered last year and enrolled in ECLIP, he said that 222 already received livelihood aid amounting to a total of PHP15.9 million while the remaining 174 former rebels are now awaiting the release of their grants.
“We are right on schedule in our timeline to decimate the communist terrorists in northern and central Luzon. We will continue to perform our mandated tasks in order to ensure the safety and security of our people and sustain the democratic way of life in this part of the country,” Burgos said.
Right on schedule? That schedule actually keeps moving from year to year. Actually every time a new president is elected the AFP says they will defeat the NPA by the time that President's term is up. Duterte is out next year so the timeline is for 2022. Will they really be defeated by 2022 or will the goalposts move to 2028 with the end of the term of the next president?
Surrender really is what LGUs and the AFP want.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129283 |
Members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and their supporters in the town of Matuguinao, Samar are given until February 15 to surrender to the government or face charges.
This was the ultimatum set by Mayor Aran Boller and Philippine Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion commanding officer Lt. Col. Jasper Justito Pecson in a meeting with officials from the town’s 20 villages on Jan. 29.
“We are trying all we can to end the insurgency problem in my town if possible this year or maybe next year,” Boller said in an interview on Monday. “If they do not surrender before February 15, we will look for evidence to file charges against them.”
He added that they can use those who have already surrendered as witnesses in filing charges against NPA members and supporters, including community officials.
Those refusing to yield to the government will face charges for violating the Anti-Terrorism Act by collaborating with the communist terrorist group, according to the mayor.
“We need to end this problem for us to have peace. If there is peace, there is development. We cannot achieve development for as long as there are NPA, especially in our far-flung villages,” Boller told reporters.
February 15th seems rather arbitrary when Samar has been a hotspot for NPA. Some areas in Samar that were once declared insurgent free now are now overrun with the NPA. That is another mistake the AFP should learn from. They clear an area and then hand it over to LGUs instead of securing it themselves. The sad fact is the AFP does not learn from their mistakes. That is why the insurgency continues.
The January stats are in!
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1391317/military-tally-87-npa-guerrillas-surrendered-yielded-16-guns-in-january |
The military has counted 87 communist rebels who surrendered in Northern and Central Luzon in January alone.
“For the first month of the New Year, a total of 87 former rebels have already returned to the folds of the law and yielded a total of 16 assorted firearms,” said the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), based in Tarlac province, in a statement released on Monday (Feb. 1).
The surrendered rebels, the Nolcom said, are now fulfilling requirements to avail themselves of benefits from the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program, which is part of the Duterte administration’s “whole-of-government” approach to the insurgency.
The well-funded program offers housing, education, health care, livelihood financing and cash to surrendered rebels. Each firearm surrendered by rebels would be paid P50,000.
At P50,000 per firearm that is P800,000 that has been doled out so far this year! That does not include whatever additional benefits the rebels will receive from E-CLIP.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129785 |
Two housing projects are set to be implemented for former New People’s Army (NPA) rebels and indigenous peoples (IPs) in Zamboanga Sibugay province, a military official said Friday.Lt. Col. Don Templonuevo, commander of the Army's 44th Infantry Battalion, said the housing projects to be established in Barangays Balagon and Mirangan in Siay town, Zamboanga Sibugay, would benefit 210 recipients.Templonuevo said the recipients consist of 110 former NPA rebels from Barangay Mirangan, and 100 former NPA supporters and IP families in Barangay Balagon.
It's amazing that no one has scammed the NTF-ECLAC to get a free house. But maybe they have. We just don't know because there has been no audit. The COA is dragging its feet. Why?
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| https://www.rappler.com/nation/coa-difficulty-auditing-duterte-intel-funds |
Commission on Audit (COA) chairperson Michael Aguinaldo admitted to Congress on Wednesday, September 16, that the commission is practically helpless in auditing both President Rodrigo Duterte's intelligence funds, and the funds utilized by the task force he created, the National Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
"We are having difficulty also tracing what budget was actually used by the different departments (in the NTF-ELCAC budget)," Aguinaldo told the House of Representatives on Wednesday during deliberations on COA's 2021 budget.
In the case of Duterte's intelligence funds, Aguinaldo said they are hard to audit precisely because they are confidential – citing as an example the case of informants whose identities will never be revealed because of the sensitive nature of their roles. This makes it impossible for auditors to check the agency's reimbursements and payments for these informants.
The NTF-ELCAC was created in Decemer 2018 through Duterte's Executive Order No. 70, and was tasked to implement a whole-of-nation approach to end communism.
Its budget however is difficult to trace because the expenses are charged against the specific departments that carry out the tasks.
NTF-ELCAC is composed of officials from different agencies, such as its spokesperson, Lorraine Badoy, who is an undersecretary of Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).
Zarate said it's like the NTF-ELCAC is given a discretion to come up with a menu of its projects, and award it to different agencies.
Aguinaldo said it was not unusual for a task force created by the President to charge expenses against the department. For example, if a task force is made up of different Cabinet secretaries, the expense of one secretary is charged against his department.
"But this (proposed budget) is quite big, so it's something we have to look at carefuly, the amout of money involved is not typical when you have a task force involving different departments, those are issues we will really be looking at," said Aguinaldo.
The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) has a message for those in the government who support the CPP-NPA.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129696 |
The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) on Thursday said several supporters of communist terrorist groups (CTGs) have infiltrated different government agencies, working as state employees across various offices.
In an interview over DZAR on Thursday, NICA Director-General Alex Paul Monteagudo said they know about the individuals who were able to infiltrate government agencies.
“We know who they are, that they are even party members, supporters of the CPP [Communist Party of the Philippines]. But pinapaalam din natin sa kanila na alam natin. Alam nila na alam namin, alam ng security forces, alam ng gobyerno kung sino sila at binabantayan natin sila (We have informed them that we know. They know that we know, the security forces know, the government knows them, and we are watching them),” Monteagudo said.
He said even before President Duterte’s term, “Reds have already infiltrated the government with their 52 years of existence”.
“Halos lahat ng ahensya ng gobyerno ay napasukan na sa loob ng 52 years. They have all the time sa loob ng 50 taon na ma-infilitrate itong mga organizations natin (Almost all government agencies have been infiltrated in those 52 years. They had all the time infiltrating our organizations for more than 50 years),” he said.
Another mode of entering government service, Monteagudo explained, is through student leaders who were recruited to join different front organizations and later became members or supporters of the CPP-NPA-NDF.
He said students who decided to remain in the city but remained as CTG supporters were encouraged by the group to take civil service examinations.
After passing the examinations, Monteagudo said they enter government service and work in the agencies.
“Pero pag pumasok yun dun, ang part ng kanilang sweldo pupunta sa partido(When they enter the government, part of their salary goes to the party) but their primary function is to recruit more, to influence, to agitate and to indoctrinate and to act as eyes and ears of the CPP-NPA,” Monteagudo said.
He said NICA has been presenting special briefings in different government agencies on the extent of CTG infiltration on the bureaucracy.
As per NICA’s latest estimate, there are about 300,000 to 400,000 who are allies of different CPP-NPA-NDF front organizations.
However, Monteagudo clarified that being a member of these front organizations does not mean that they are terrorists.
300,000 to 400,000 allies of the CPP-NPA being the in the government is an incredible estimate. How exactly do they know that number? How do they know who these people are? He says they have been informed but so far no one has come forward publicly. But its not like anyone would. If they know who these people are then they should act. But then again the NICA admits that being a member of a front organization does not mean one is a terrorist!
NOLCOM says the NPA is facing imminent collapse. The AFP is also congratulating them for dismantling alleged CPP-NPA fronts.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129430 |
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has given recognition to military units under the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) that were instrumental in dismantling communist terrorist fronts operating in Central and Northern Luzon.
AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Gilbert Gapay bestowed battle streamer awards to the units during his visit to the Nolcom Headquarters here on Tuesday.
Awarded were the Joint Task Force Kaugnay and Joint Task Group Defenders for successfully dismantling Komiteng Larangang Gerilya South Ilocos Sur (KLG SIS), the communist terrorist front that operates in the province of Ilocos Sur and some parts of Ilocos Norte and Abra.
Joint Task Force Tala and Joint Task Group Liberator were also awarded for successfully dismantling Komiteng Larangang Gerilya Quirino–Nueva Vizcaya, the communist terrorist front that operates in the provinces of Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya.
The KLG is the Guerrilla Field Committee and there are branches all across the country. They are not NPA fighters but just groups of supporters who provide aid in one capacity or another. It's a good thing that NOLCOM has dismantled that front and it could very well presage the end of the NPA in Central and Northern Luzon.
In the meantime the battle goes on and it is a violent battle with Filipino soldiers giving up their lives to end the insurgency and protect their nation.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/regions/774835/two-soldiers-dead-in-army-clash-with-suspected-npa-members-in-quezon/story/ |
Two Army soldiers died and one soldier was wounded when members of the Philippine Army's 85th Infantry Brigade clashed with suspected members of the New People's Army in Quezon on Friday, the military said.
The names of the soldiers killed in action (KIA) and wounded in action (WIA) were withheld pending notice to their kin, according to the Army's 201st Infantry Brigade.
There were also casualties on the rebels' side but the number could not be confirmed yet, the Army said.
It's sad that so many soldiers have died in a war that has unnecessarily stretched out for so long.
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