Insurgency: The Meat

Last week Duterte gave his final State of the Nation address. From his pulpit the President directed troops to shoot dead any communists they see walking around.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1464676/dutertes-order-to-troops-shoot-communist-rebels-dead

President Rodrigo Duterte, in his final State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, ordered military troops to shoot communist rebels dead since they will not be held liable in the country’s law but only before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“My orders to you, if you see them (communist rebels) walking around, kindly shoot them dead, I would be happy,” he said.

“Anyway you’re only charged in the ICC together with me, so what is the problem of having another one, another idiot Filipino who has caused great damage to the country?” he added.

Duterte also chided communist rebels, saying the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) “earns billions but passes on very little to their fighting men who die for an ideology that is so rotten and corrupt.”

It does not make much sense that he would say such a thing when he has encouraged rebels to surrender and avail of all the benefits which include housing and money. Many think this whole of nation approach should be sustained even after Duterte leaves office.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1148415

The "whole of nation approach" of President Rodrigo Duterte should be continued and sustained by the next administration.

Thus said Sadanga, Mountain Province Mayor Gabino Ganggangan on Tuesday, an advocate for peace and avid supporter of the government’s stance to end the local communist armed conflict (ELCAC). 

“The whole of nation approach is very important and never was there a national government that came up with such a comprehensive and effective way of addressing the insurgency problem of the country," he said.

"This should be sustained by whoever the next administration will be. It is a well-crafted one wherein as early as the first two years, you can already see the merits. Insurgency will not end in a few years but we are glad he started it,” he added.

It is noteworthy that this LGU official says the "insurgency will not end in a few years" since the AFP was really banking on 2022 as being the end of the NPA.  In fact at least one region is confident they will defeat the insurgency in their area by the end of Duterte's term next year.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1148429

The Western Visayas Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF6-ELCAC) is committed to pursuing just and lasting peace by ending local insurgency next year through the Whole-of-Nation approach.

“Before the President's term ends, we shall strive to put an end to the 52-year-old insurgency by bringing basic social services to the grassroots level, building roads to far-flung barangays, winning the hearts and minds of the masses, depriving the communist terrorist groups of their lairs, safe havens and community bases,” Associate Provincial Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales, the spokesperson of the regional task force, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We will ensure that you and your families will be provided with adequate livelihood, a peaceful community, and hope for a better future,” he said as he called on their remaining members to “abandon their lost cause and dying ideology”.

Maj. Cenon Pancito III, the spokesperson of the Philippine Army's (PA) 3rd Infantry Division (3ID), welcomed the President's mention of the efforts of the task force.

“We know that this is the meat of what we are doing in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. We wanted development and progress but there are problems on insurgency,” he said in a phone interview.

He said the acknowledgment by the President is a testament that it is not only the AFP that is working but the government as a whole, driven by the political will of the country's leader to end the insurgency.

“This would somehow also suggest that the AFP is not left alone to do the job. But we have been telling this that insurgency cannot be solved by merely pure military solution but should be a whole-of-nation approach,” Pancito added.

"The meat" of the AFP's fight against the CPP-NPA is bribing terrorists to surrender rather than annihilating them. In turn they receive money and housing and are not prosecuted for their heinous crimes. This method is also working to dismantle the BIFF.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1148898

A military commander here said the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) is weakening as more extremists realize they were misguided and fighting a lost cause.

“More have expressed to surrender but (are) just waiting for an opportune time,” Col. Pedro Balisi, commander of the Army's 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade, said in an interview here Saturday.

Balisi said 80 to 90 BIFF radicals left in the marshland of Maguindanao are expected to surrender soon.

Local government officials, including village leaders, he said, are continuously convincing those misguided by the BIFF ideology to surrender peacefully to the government and live normal lives.

“Our focused military operations geared towards them also forced the extremists to surrender,” he added.

Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6ID), said relentless military operations would continue for those who refuse to surrender.

“Our doors have remained open, though, to those who wish to be with their families and live peaceful lives,” he said.

“The latest surrenderers belonged to the Bungos and Karialan faction(s) of the BIFF,” Uy said in a separate interview.

Haron Akil, one of the BIFF surrenderers, and the other 10 disclosed that many of their companions want to yield as they are tired of running away from pursuing military forces.

“We expect them to also yield soon,” he said in the vernacular.

Uy said the surrenderers would get financial aid and a livelihood package from the Maguindanao provincial government to help them start with their new lives as peaceful and productive citizens.

What would constitute an opportune time to surrender to the government? Perhaps they have unfinished business which needs tending. 

Convincing terrorists to surrender takes a village. It especially takes village officials which is why the NTF-ELCAC has been training them to persuade them.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1148637

The provincial task force to end local communist armed conflict (ELCAC) has been raising the capability of village officials in Leyte for them to help completely rid communities from the influence of the New People’s Army (NPA).

The communist terrorist group’s effort to regain their former strongholds in the province prompted the task force to step up the information drive among village officials who are members of the barangay (village) task force ELCAC.

“The barangay ELCAC is proven effective with the community officials are now addressing issues being exploited by the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front. They are now equipped with the right information regarding deception being employed by the communist terrorist group,” said Capt. Kaharudin Cadil, Philippine Army 802nd Infantry Brigade spokesperson, in a phone interview Thursday.

The weakening of NPA in Leyte is a result of a whole-of-nation approach by linking arms between basic service providers from the central government, community participation groups from the local governments, and the security sector from the military and police.

Through the local task force, concerns of communities are now properly addressed since the task force is chaired by village chief, the most trusted person in a community, Cadil said.

With village officials taking an active role, Cadil said it is now easier to convince NPA fighters and supporters in villages to abandon the communist ideology.

If bribing terrorists to surrender is working then it's working. Plenty of people have attributed the program's success to Duterte and say whoever succeeds him must equal his fight against the CPP-NPA.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1148327

Multi-sectoral groups on Monday cited the benefits of the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and hoped that the succeeding administration will have the same strong political will to fight terrorism.

The NTF-ELCAC made easier and more accessible the government's delivery of basic services in far-flung communities, particularly in areas infiltrated by communist terrorist groups (CTGs), the League of Parents of the Philippines (LPP) and Liga Independencia Pilipinas (LIPI) said in a statement.

The President signed Executive Order No. 70 in December 2018, creating the NTF-ELCAC that employs a whole-of-nation approach to end communism and institute peace-building initiatives.

Both groups said it is only under Duterte that the government has the courage to disclose the deceptions and violence by the legal front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Liberation (CPP-NPA-NDF).

The Duterte administration also successfully "broke the backbones" of other local terrorist groups within Mindanao areas such as the Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan and the Islamic State-linked Maute Group in Lanao del Sur.

They added that the gains on good governance, especially the fight against communist rebels, acquired under Duterte's leadership must be sustained by the next administration.

"The solution to conflicts should not be limited to military approach but more on political and socio-economic services," the groups said.

They also appealed to the next administration to continue to "unmask those politicians and militant organizations" that have been identified with the CPP-NPA-NDF.

If the whole-of-nation approach is what works best then laying the fight against the insurgency totally at the feet of the executive branch is a bad idea. Besides, the AFP is the main group fighting the insurgency. The fact that the insurgency has lasted 52 years lies in great measure on their shoulders. The AFP is not just a corrupt organization but an unorganized military force. Never forget the DND Secretary Lorenzana admitted that the AFP stopped urban warfare training because they were not using that skill. The result was a 5 month war in Marawi. Marawi might not have happened had the AFP acted on the intel they had as far back as February 2017. No matter who becomes President the AFP shares the large part of blame for whatever happens with the insurgency.