Insurgency: The Evils of Communism

With only a month to go before Duterte leaves office it's a race to the finish line as the AFP attempts to complete their mandate of defeating the NPA before the end of his term. Despite all the odds against them they are confident it will be done.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174930

The Philippine Army is optimistic to clear by the end of May some 81 remote villages in Northern Samar from the infiltration of the New People’s Army (NPA), an official said on Friday.

Lt. Col. Joemar Buban, commander of the Philippine Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion, said hundreds of NPA supporters have surrendered to government forces this year and joined the peace and development efforts.

“We are on track in our clearing efforts since the communist terrorist group has been losing support from these communities. We still have to further validate before issuing the declaration,” Buban said in a phone interview.

These far-flung villages are in the towns of Las Navas, Catubig, Mapanas, Gamay, Lapinig, Palapag, and Laoang.

“Cleared means that all supporters in a village have already surrendered. Sightings are still expected since they will attempt to return, but we have soldiers and trained Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit in the area to neutralize them,” Buban told the Philippine News Agency.

Citing accounts of former rebels who recently surrendered, the official said there are only 30 active NPA fighters roaming around in these seven Northern Samar towns.

With only 30 active NPA fighters roaming about in Northern Samar surely the AFP can reign them in by June 30th if not sooner. The AFP certainly has the backing of the local citizens.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174843

About 400 residents in Las Navas, Northern Samar joined a condemnation rally on Thursday triggered by the fatal shooting of a soldier, who was the team leader of the community support program (CSP) of the military in the area.

Residents from different villages trooped to the town plaza, carrying placards as they condemned the communist terrorist group for attacking government forces deployed to facilitate development in poor communities.

“This is initiated by locals of Las Navas. Prior to this, there were rallies in their communities since the shooting of one of our soldiers. Some of them walked to the town center to join the peace rally today,” Lt. Col. Joemar Buban, commander of the Philippine Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion, said in a phone interview.

The protests were triggered by the death of Sgt. Marlon Baysa, who was fatally shot in front of the residents of San Francisco village in Las Navas town on the night of May 11.

A bullet hit the back of Baysa’s head, resulting in his instantaneous death. He was the designated team leader of the CSP group deployed in the remote village infiltrated by the NPA.

The community invited the CSP team members to join the Flores de Mayo celebration, a popular religious festival in the country every month of May.

CSP is a flagship program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to clear communities of NPA infestation and involves immersion of personnel in the identified barangays and the conduct of various community engagements geared towards addressing the needs of the people.

The attack is believed to be a retaliation since most of the NPA’s underground mass organization members in the area have voluntarily surrendered, according to the official.

A rally condemning the NPA not staged by the AFP along with burning of the CPP flag? That's quite unusual.

The AFP is already proclaiming success in Northern Luzon.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174729

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff Gen. Andres Centino said the successful campaign of the 5th Infantry Division against the communist terrorist groups (CTGs) has brought progress and peace to communities in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and the Cordillera.

"With the active participation of the Star Division in our whole of nation approach, the people of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, and Cordillera Administrative Region felt significant economic progress, as well as peace and security in their communities," he said in a statement Wednesday.

Centino also recognized the 5th Infantry Division (Star Troopers) for their recent achievements, particularly the employment of game changer assets against CTGs in Cagayan.

"The 5th Infantry Division's conduct of focused military operations and effective coordination with other law enforcement agencies resulted in significant gains against the enemy," the AFP chief added.

It also liberated 117 areas from the influence of communist terrorists; dismantled four guerrilla fronts; and neutralized 950 personalities, 18 of which were high-value individuals.

It would seem that all this success means the NPA is unpopular in Northern Luzon. That is the case in Davao Oriental and it's all because of cooperation between the public and the government.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174612

The unpopularity of the communist New People's Army (NPA) in Davao Oriental could be attributed to the cooperation of the public and barangay officials with government security forces, the provincial governor said Tuesday.

Davao Oriental Governor Nelson Dayanghirang, speaking over the "Tagged Debunking Lies By Telling the Truth" program aired at SMNI, said the NPA's rejection in the province was also due to good governance.

"The people realized that we have a working government providing good services to them," he said.

In addition, the outgoing governor said the sustained presence of the military and police units in Davao Oriental has also led to the complete dismantling of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA in many parts of the province.

In fact, Dayanghirang noted that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has not recorded any extortion case from the NPA during the elections.

"This means that we are closer to the dismantling of the CPP-NPA in the country. I hope the next admin will continue its fight against them to stop their atrocities," he said.

Dayanghirang vowed to continue supporting the peace efforts of the government to ensure that NPA can no longer recover and conduct grassroots influence campaign.

According to National Security Advisor Hermogenes Esperon Jr. the reason the NPA is becoming less popular and losing their hold on the nation is because Filipinos are now aware of the CPP's deceitful tactics.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174496

Filipinos are aware and continue to be watchful of the deceptive tactics of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page Sunday night, Esperon said any move by the CPP and its allies to instigate anarchy after the elections has failed.

"Our countrymen are aware and watchful of every move it makes to divide our people. THEY WILL SURELY FAIL AGAIN," he added.

Earlier reports claimed that the CPP and its allies are planning to infiltrate electoral protest actions of the supporters of losing presidential aspirant Vice President Robredo and other militant groups.

"We can expect the CPP to hatch another agitation, organization and mobilization plan again, maybe in June, August and September this year but it is on its own," Esperon said.

He added that these plans have been neutralized after Robredo called on her supporters to respect the will of the majority.

"(We cannot allow ourselves to be the reason for the divisiveness in our country). This was the message of Vice President Leni Robredo after she encouraged her supporters to respect the will of the majority. With all certainty, I can declare that the insidious plan of the CPP to foment anarchy, the very intent of the 'Black Friday' movement, has failed," he said.

Esperon says the CPP has plans to foment anarchy sometime between June and September and then he says this plan has been neutralized because Robredo called on her supporters to respect the election of convicted felon Bongbong Marcos as President. First of all how does he know the CPP won't try something in the next few months. Second of all this is a backhanded way of linking Robredo to the CPP as if they abide by her words. Why do these people continue to malign Robredo with baseless claims that she is linked with the CPP?

It might be that there will be no NPA mass actions anytime soon or ever again. Recent surrenderees say the struggle is going nowhere.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174824

Some five more communist New people’s Army (NPA) rebels operating in Sultan Kudarat province have surrendered to military authorities, saying they have been fighting for a futile cause.

“It is better to live with their loved ones than fighting a lost cause,” said one of the surrenderers, who identified himself only as “Ka Abel,” in a statement Thursday.

The rebels turned over their rifles to the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Mirab, Upi, Maguindanao, Wednesday afternoon.

The group’s firearms consisted of a sniper rifle, a Garand rifle, and a 12-gauge shotgun.

They also helped the Army in locating and retrieving other NPA firearms -- an M60 machine gun and three M16 rifles – kept in the hinterlands of Lebak town.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Pondanera, the 57IB commander, said the surrenderers used to operate under the NPA's Far South Mindanao Region.

Major General Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and concurrent head of Joint Task Force Central, hailed the rebels' surrender.

“The decision of the NPA group to return to the folds of the law will surely bring happiness to their families and loved ones and the people of Lebak,” Uy told reporters here.

He urged other NPA guerrillas to follow the footsteps of their comrades who are now back in the mainstream society to live normal lives.

Since January this year, more than 60 NPA combatants have availed of various livelihood packages after they decided to surrender to the government.

NPA fighters continue to surrender but they also continue to recruit which is why the AFP has stepped up anti-recruitment efforts via seminars educating the people, especially the youth, about the evils of communism.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174440

Aside from fighting insurgency on the ground, government troops halt communism even before it starts through information dissemination.

The Philippine Army’s 91st Infantry “Sinagtala” Battalion (91IB) includes youth awareness programs in its continuous fight against the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

In an interview on Saturday, Lt. Col. Julito Recto Jr., acting 91IB commanding officer, said they conduct lectures in different schools in this province to warn young people about the danger of recruitment into the armed movement.

One hundred senior high school students of Mariano D. Marquez Memorial National High School and their parents in Barangay  Simbahan, Dinalungan town listened to talks on Friday.

“Our youth are very vulnerable to false ideologies since they are innocent and easy targets for manipulation. They must be educated enough to avoid being recruited by communist terrorist groups which have disguised tactics for development and reform. But their real agenda is to destroy the government and the future of the youth, especially those residing in depressed and isolated areas,” he said.

The "evils of Communism?" "False ideologies?" If I attended one of those seminars I would ask, "If Communism iso so evil and false why is the Philippines allied with China which is a communist nation? Why fight the Communist Party of the Philippines but be friends with the Chinese Communist party which has been in power since 1949?" I don't think the AFP could answer that question because there is no coherent or logical answer.