Insurgency: NPA Membership Down to 1,800

After almost a whole year the AFP has released a new estimate on how many NPA fighters remain. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1799676/fwd-afp-npa-has-around-1800-members-left

From around 2,000 members reported in 2022, the communist New People’s Army (NPA) is now down to around 1,800 fighters, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar said on Monday.

“The CPP-NPA is down to 1,800 plus members,” Aguilar said in an online press conference. CPP stands for the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Aguilar, however, declined to divulge the primary locations of the insurgents.

“Let the military worry about the breakdown. These are tactical information we cannot divulge,” he said.

Aguilar added around 400 NPA rebels have pending cases.

“As we look at the data right now, with 1,800 plus remaining, around 400 plus of them … are facing cases,” Aguilar said.

“Also, based on the revelation of former rebels who have surrendered already, these cases are obstructing them because what their commanders and leaders are saying [is] when they go back when they return to the folds of the law, they will not be reunited with their family; instead they will go directly to jail,” he added.

Hence, Aguilar said he believes granting amnesty to the rebels is one of the ways to solve the dilemma.

“As far as the Armed Forces are concerned, I think amnesty is one way to end the communist insurgency,” he said.

“This is one consideration we should look into because, after all, the President wants to unify the country.”

The NPA’s leadership has rejected the repeated calls of the AFP for amnesty.

CPP spokesperson Marco Valbuena called the proposed amnesty a “sugar-coated bullet.”

Because the NPA has been reduced to 1,800 members the AFP has declared a strategic victory. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1205263

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Monday said that "strategic victory" has been achieved over the New People's Army (NPA) as the insurgents only have 1,800 members as of this time, compared to the 24,000 during its peak in the 1980s.

During the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC)'s "Tagged Reloaded" press conference Monday, Aguilar said of the remaining 1,800 NPA members, 400 of them are already identified and facing criminal charges.

He added that all of them are the subject of "focused military operations".

"They should think of getting back to their families and to the folds of the law,"  he added.

"Because of that, we have reduced the number of guerilla fronts. When before there were five active guerilla fronts, this is now reduced to one, with the dismantling of two guerilla fronts, and weakening of two. That one active guerilla front is located, operating somewhere in (the) northern part of Samar," Aguilar said.

The AFP spokesperson also said that they are now focusing the necessary forces there to prevent and suppress violence that could come from this guerilla front.

Dismantling the politico-military structure of the CPP-NPA-NDF is the key objective of the AFP to achieve a total victory.

This can only be achieved "when the CPP is no longer capable of mounting atrocities or violent activities that will harm our community and disrupt our progress."

"Now, this also calls for the clearing of all affected barangays or even those threatened to make sure that when this shift is focused on territorial defense operation (TDO), there will be no ISO (internal security operation) problem to look back, and by that... we expect that with the guidance and direction given by the President, we will be moving for you will be shifting to TDO. All of us are united towards that purpose," Aguilar said.

The AFP already declared a strategic victory back in September, 2022. 

According to the AFP there is only one active guerrilla front left in the nation and it is in Northern Samar.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/10/23/afp-only-one-active-npa-guerrilla-front-remaining-in-ph

Only one out of 89 known guerrilla fronts of the New People's Army (NPA) remains active in the Philippines, the military said Monday.

“When before there were 5 active guerrilla fronts, these are now reduced to 1. We had the dismantling of 2 guerrilla fronts and weakening of 2,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar told reporters.

While the military was still pursuing 2 more fronts, they have already been classified as "weakened" and "unable to implement programs" of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

The remaining active guerrilla front is located in the northern part of Samar, Aguilar said, adding that the AFP expects it to be dismantled at the soonest possible time as NPA rebel forces continue to decrease.

As of July, only some 1,800 communist rebels are still bearing arms.

“If we are talking about the 2,008 members of the CPP-NPA in the end of 2022, now, the strength of the CPP has been reduced to 1,800. We have accounted more than 600 neutralizations but some of these are not listed because many belong to what we call legal organizations. When they found out that there was no way out, they surrendered,” Aguilar said.

Let's do the math in that last paragraph. There were 2,008 members at the end of 2022 and now there are 1,800. In between 600 NPA fighters were neutralized but really more than that because not all are listed since they surrendered. That math makes no sense at all. If there were 600 neutralizations since the beginning of the year then their would have been 2,400 NPA fighters and not 2,008 at the end of 2022. How do they know there are exactly 1,800 NPA fighters left? They don't. It's an estimate.

Northern Samar may have the only active guerrilla front in the nation but it's not the only island where there is fighting. There are still clashes in Bohol.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1205361

The military on Tuesday vowed to continue without letup its offensive operations against the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Bohol after the clash in Bilar town over the weekend.

Brig. Gen. Joey Escanillas, the Army’s 302nd Infantry Brigade (302Bde) commander based in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental, said that while the NPA’s Bohol Party Committee (BPC) is already dismantled, there are still remnants who must be prevented from recruiting new members.

“These (rebels) will not cease from recovering their lost ground and from organizing, so we are closely monitoring them so that they could no longer recover,” Escanillas told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) here in an interview.

He said the dismantled BPC front now has about seven to nine remaining members who are “on the run” as government troops continue to pursue them.

On July 8, troopers of the Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion (47IB) figured in a 10-minute encounter with the remnants of the BPC in the hinterlands of Barangay Dagohoy in Bilar.

Lt. Col. Magno Mapalad, the 47IB commander, said the clash took place after civilians reported the presence of armed men in the area.

Recovered from the encounter site were a loaded .45-caliber pistol, assorted ammunition for an AK-47 rifle, an M16 rifle, and a .45-caliber pistol, personal belongings, tents, medical paraphernalia, food packs, and subversive documents.

The encounter site is described as a temporary encampment of the BPC remnants as they no longer stay in one place for longer periods.

“We cannot be complacent because they still can reorganize and recover, and actually, we are focusing on some white areas or urban works where the NPA is conducting resource generation operations,” Escanillas said.

He noted that so long as the rebels are allowed to continue generating resources, its armed component would continue to exist.

In October 2022 The AFP declared the Bohol CTGs to be dismantled with only ten members left. 

  

https://pia.gov.ph/news/2022/10/03/army-pnp-npa-ctgs-dismantled-in-bohol

The communist terrorist group (CTG) of the New People’s Army (NPA) have been dismantled in Bohol. 

This forms the gist of the report which the 47th Infantry Battalion shared to the media during the weekly Capitol Reports featuring Bohol’s peace and order situation.

Speaking for Lt. Col. Allysion Depayso, commanding officer of the 47th Infantry Brigade (IB) based in Camp Rajah Silatuna in Katipunan Carmen, 47IB Executive Officer Major Jason Torino reported on the dwindling number of armed terrorist group members in the province. 

“Based on the periodic reports status which the Army and police joint task force receive, from 18 members of the armed terrorist group in Bohol, there are now only 10,” Torino said. 

“They cannot conduct anymore offensives against the government,” he continued, adding that they have also recently recovered the harbor site of the communist terrorist guerillas.

“They are not anymore considered a threat.  They now have 10 men and some 11 firearms,” the top police chief said.

How do they even know this? What information are they using to make these estimates? In the most recent encounter The AFP recovered three weapons. In a clash in May the AFP killed one man, wounded several others, and recovered 2 weapons. So, now there are 7 men and 6 weapons? It seems there are more NPA fighters in Bohol than the AFP is admitting or even knows about. 

The fight also continues in Negros. 

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2023/07/09/2279767/hundreds-displaced-negros-occidental-afp-npa-clashes

Eighty families or 318 people evacuated their homes as New People’s Army (NPA) rebels clashed with soldiers in Barangay Carabalan in Himamaylan City in Negros Occidental on Friday.

The displaced families are taking shelter at a covered court in the barangay.

Lt. Col. Van Donald Almonte, 94th Infantry Battalion (IB) commander, said an NPA rebel, who has yet to be identified, was killed in the gunfights.

The military said a rifle, two backpacks containing extortion letters and personal belongings were recovered at the scene.

Almonte said the clash occurred after soldiers belonging to the 94th IB responded to a report on the presence of the rebels in the area.

Meanwhile, an NPA rebel identified only by his alias of Pepe surrendered to the 94th IB and turned over his rifle.

The AFP says they are stepping up efforts to recover stashed firearms in Negros. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1205267

The Philippine Army is intensifying efforts to locate more firearms stashed by the New People’s Army (NPA) to prevent the communist rebels from making up lost ground in Negros Island.

Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division (3ID), gave the assurance as he commended the joint police and military forces for the recovery of a cache of firearms in the hinterlands of Calatrava, Negros Occidental over the weekend.

“We will carry on in stepping up our military and non-military operations to recuperate more loose firearms and defuse the remnants of the communist-terrorist group in Negros Island,” Sison said in a statement on Monday.

The operation on July 8 was conducted by troops of the 79th Infantry Battalion together with personnel of the Philippine National Police’s Regional Mobile Force Battalion-Western Visayas, 1st Negros Occidental Provincial Mobile Force, and 6th Special Action Battalion, Special Action Force upon receiving information from the locals that led them to the location in Sitio Bandol, Barangay Maaslob.

They recovered an M14 rifle with a magazine containing live ammunition, M16 rifle magazines, clips for Garand rifle, commercial radios, and subversive documents believed to have been hidden by the remnants of the dismantled NPA Northern Negros Front.

Brig. Gen. Orlando Edralin, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, said the recovery of the arms cache is “a significant blow to the NPA’s capacity to carry out its destructive acts”.

“It also serves as a clear warning that law enforcement agencies in Negros Occidental remain committed to ensuring the safety and security of the people, and are relentless in the pursuit of those who seek to sow terror and disorder,” he added.

And for North Samar the Marcos administration hopes to declare the region insurgency free by the end of 2023. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1802098/bongbong-marcos-admin-targets-to-declare-n-samar-clear-of-ctgs-by-end-2023

The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is eyeing to make Northern Samar free from so-called communist terrorist groups (CTGs) by the end of this year.

Marcos was briefed about the military’s success rate in its efforts to dismantle CTGs in Northern Samar during his visit to Camp Juan Ponce in Sumuroy, Northern Samar on Friday, July 14.

“And I was also given a very encouraging deadline that….we will have dismantled all of the communist terrorist groups (CTG) fronts by the end of the year and that is the result of your good work,” the President said in a speech.

“From the progress being made in Northern Samar, we are looking forward to declaring that province clear of CTGs by the end of the year,” he added.

According to Marcos, he “is very impatient” to revisit the province to declare that it already is free from all forms of insurgencies. But he likewise advised the 803rd Infantry Brigade to remain cautious as dangers on the frontline still exist.

“You are still now in Northern Samar, on the frontline. Do not let your guard down. Continue to do what you have been doing [because], as I said, it has been successful, it has been effective and we can see that from the weakening of the enemy forces,” he said.

Never forget that insurgency free or CTGs dismantled does not mean there are no NPA fighters in the area.