Insurgency: Communist insurgency to End During Bongbong Marcos’ Term

National Security Advisor Eduardo Año claims the insurgency is going to end during the term of Bongbong Marcos. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1824876/insurgency-to-end-during-bongbong-marcos-term-says-ano

"We will finish this local armed Communist conflict. And from there, we will support just the developments and we will be certain about the delivery of services."

"What we can see in the term of President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr., finally it will be ended."

National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo Año made these statements in a briefing in Malacañang, as he talked about the rebellion of the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army.

Año admitted insurgency cannot be totally eliminated, but he believes the issue may be brought down to a negligible point.

“While we may not be able to attain this zero insurgents, but at least reduced to an irrelevant number that will not cause concern for peace and order,” he said.

“They will become isolated and just become bandits, because of lost ideology and non-support from the people,” he projected.

The national security adviser said once the rebellion has been wiped out, the military can already focus on security conflicts with other countries.

“Right now, we have so many geopolitical issues and challenges to face,” he observed.

“We need the Armed Forces to now focus their eyes on external threats,” he said.

Año thinks AFP should be concentrating on the defense of Philippine territories, amid China’s aggressive stance in West Philippine Sea.

He said one way to combat insurgency is for government to provide services that will raise the quality of life of people in rural areas.

Oh, look at that. He is so not confident in his proclamation that he has to admit "we may not be able to attain this zero insurgents" but they can reduce them to a negligible point where they become irrelevant. But I thought the NPA was already irrelevant? How many times has the AFP declared them to be irrelevant? Remember the AFP has declared a strategic victory over the NPA. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1209058

The inability of “weakened” guerilla fronts to wage wars is a “strategic victory” for peace efforts, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said on Saturday.

During the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, NTF-ELCAC director Alexander Umpar noted that the government has dismantled 69 of 89 guerilla fronts since the creation of the task force in 2018.

Umpar said only one of the 20 remaining guerilla fronts is active while 19 others are already weakened.

“‘When we say strategic victory, this is the 19 weakened guerilla fronts and only one is left to be confronted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines),” he said.

“There are still concerns about the armed groups but they are no longer able to initiate an armed struggle or to [topple] down our government. So, ‘yun ‘yung (that’s the) strategic victory,” Umpar said.

"There are still concerned about armed groups?" What exactly are these concerns if "they are no longer able to initiate an armed struggle or to [topple] down our government?" Don't expect anything coherent from the AFP.

These types of proclamations are completely worthless and should not even be taken with a grain of salt but should be totally ignored. In this continuing series about the insurgency I have shown again and again that the AFP makes premature announcements about the demise of the NPA. Yet they keep coming. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1208992

The country continued to make significant strides in attaining peace and order, with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. leading the declaration of Palawan Island as “insurgency-free” on Friday.

“The process of finding peace for all communities in the Philippines is still ongoing,” he said in a media interview in Puerto Princesa City.

“But we can also celebrate because we have seen there is progress and the situation is good,” he added.

Marcos attributed the successful implementation of the peace initiatives and anti-insurgency efforts to the government’s “whole-of-nation” approach.

He also lauded the “collaborative and inclusive” efforts of the Regional and Provincial Task Forces to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC), Provincial Peace and Order Council, partner agencies and Palawan residents to end insurgency on the island.

“The milestone that we celebrate today epitomizes the commitment that you have put to end the decades-long insurgency in the area through the provision of national reintegration programs for former rebels and promotion of the island’s peace and security,” Marcos said.

They have not made it clear if Palawan is actually insrugent free or if there as a negligible number of rebels left. Whatever the case this will be "good for tourism.

Election season is here complete with checkpoints and gun bans.  The Army is using voters to not vote for NPA backed candidates. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1208645

Army officials on Monday urged the public to avoid electing candidates supporting communist groups during the upcoming Barangay and Sannguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE).

Lt. Col. Terence Ylanan, the Army's 53rd Infantry Battalion (53IB) commander, said they reiterated the reminder after learning that a certain candidate in Dumingag town, Zamboanga del Sur, allegedly giving sanctuary to remnants of a New Peoples Army (NPA) unit operating in the area.

Ylanan said the area's last six NPA remnants were monitored in the hinterlands of neighboring Zamboanga del Norte, hiding from the authorities after the military managed to cripple the group's recruitment drive.

Villagers, he said, must help the military put an end to the NPA's extortion and harassment in the area, and not to allow their supporters to hold seats in the government.

"With such actions, the voter-parents could truly secure their children from being recruited to be among the rebels holding firearms," Ylanan said.

Said village is located in the boundaries of Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte, with little to no access to the town center, and was a haven for the rebels in the past years, Ylanan said.

The village's road was prioritized and provided funding by the local government to address the problem through the intensified campaign against the communist rebels in July 2020.

The 53IB also provided a medical and dental mission with the Dumingag local government.

If there are NPA backed candidates and the AFP knows who they are they should name names and alert the COMELEC. 

Viscom continues the fight against the NPA thought they do need a morale boost.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1208676

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr.’s visit to the Visayas Command (Viscom) last weekend has inspired troops to carry on government’s efforts to clear more villages from the New People’s Army (NPA) infestation.

Viscom chief Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo said Brawner’s visit on Saturday raised the morale of the Army in intensifying internal security operations, as he lauded the soldiers for their efforts that resulted in the neutralization of 204 NPAs and recovery of 168 firearms.

Viscom’s incessant community support program (CSP) was also commended as it resulted in the clearing of 418 villages from NPA infestation and the cooptation and reorientation of 113 former NPA-affiliated mass organizations or sectoral front groups.

Arevalo said the whole-of-nation approach has a huge impact in the campaign against insurgency in the central Philippines.

“We could not have done this without the support of the local government units, our partner agencies in the local Task Force ELCAC (ending local communist armed conflict), other stakeholders, and most especially our people. It is their strong will that motivates your Team Viscom to strive for the attainment of a just and lasting peace in the Visayas region,” Arevalo said in a statement.

He vowed to sustain the gains in the fight against the NPAs, vowing “no letup in the operation to prevent the terrorist group from regaining their foothold in the region.”

The efforts to ensure long-lasting peace and development in the Visayas will be sustained through the cooperation of the various government agencies, he said.

With their motivation to end the local communist armed conflict in the Visayas region, Arevalo said they would not stop urging the few remaining members of the NPA to lay down their arms and return to the fold of the law while the government has prepared programs for them to become useful members of the community.

The NTF-ELCAC continues to play a central role in the fight against the insurgency and now they have a surprising new partner: The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1824974/cbcp-to-be-represented-in-the-ntf-elcac

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has now representatives in the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), according to Executive Director Usec. Ernesto Torres on Thursday.

The NTF-Elcac had reorganized and expanded the taskforce, with hopes of having a more holistic approach to ending local insurgency.

Torres explained that there are two private representatives in the NTF-Elcac, one would be from the religious sector and one from the business sector.

“When we first approached the CBCP leadership, we were accepted warmly. We did not have a problem with them, in fact, they already accepted to cooperate with us because we were able to explain to them, about the program of the government,” Torres said in a mix of English and Filipino during a Palace briefing.

According to Torres, the representative from the CBCP will be Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista with Father Jerome Secillano as his alternate.

“We are a very religious country, so if I’m not mistaken, more than 80 percent of our population is Catholic or Christian, so the organization could be felt down to the barangays and even sitios. So they are organized as such, so with them on our side, it would be a lot easier for us to disseminate, to cascade the information, the good news of the government to those living in far flung areas,” he said.

What's strange about this is that religious figures connected with the Catholic Church have been attacked by the government as being supporters of the NPA. Catholic youth groups have called them out for this move. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1825311/against-catholic-teachings-youth-groups-surprised-with-cbcp-joining-ntf-elcac

At least two youth groups expressed surprise and concern about the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) decision to join the government’s anti-communist insurgency task force, saying that such a move contradicts Catholic teachings.

In a statement on Friday, the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) questioned why the CBCP is looking to participate in the activities of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), when the said body has “attacked” religious leaders and community organizers, as well as linked them to communist rebels.

“Given the news of CBCP’s said membership in the NTF-ELCAC, we warn against the devilish agenda of the NTF-ELCAC, especially with its habit of attacking religious leaders and community organizers who advocate for our democratic rights such as right to land and livable wage as way of manifesting our faith that does justice,” SCMP national chairperson Kej Andres said.

“We continue to condemn to high heavens the invasive tactics of NTF-ELCAC to militarize and infiltrate civilian authorities. The agency has also been a den of malicious lies that has spewed red-tagging of individuals from beauty queens to high-ranking church people. We hope that the Church would continue to be a safe space for the least, lost, and the last,” he added.

Andres said that SCMP will wait for the CBCP’s explanation, but they also wish that the body would realize that several key figures of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines have stood up against abusive governments while several of its members have allegedly died at the hands of state forces.

“As we wait for an official statement from the CBCP, we hope that they would reach a discernment that reflects the long-standing tradition of Roman Catholics that have stood up against tyranny, most famously, (Jaime) Cardinal Sin’s clarion call to inspire the EDSA uprising,” the SCMP leader said.

The CBCP was quick to give that clarification.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/01/23/cbcp-clarifies-engagement-with-ntf-elcac

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) clarified on Friday that only its commission would engage with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and not the entire body. 

In a statement, CBCP President and Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said the Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs's involvement with the NTF-ELCAC would address Church concerns on red-tagging of some cause-oriented groups. 

David also said that the commission intended to provide "moral-ethical approaches" in addressing insurgency in the country. 

"It’s not exactly CBCP as a conference but the Episcopal Commission of Public Affairs that is there as a private sector representative," David said. 

"As such, this Commission has access to the NTF-ELCAC ExeCom and more opportunity to express the Church’s specific concerns, since its mandate is to act as a liaison of the CBCP to the public and private sectors and to advance some of the social concerns and issues of the Church." 

David said that the CBCP as a whole would discuss the issue and evaluate whether it is necessary for the commission to join the NTF-ELCAC's executive committee. 

It appears reports of the CBCP joining the NTF-ELCAC have been overblown as it is only their commission on public affairs which will be engaging the the NTF-ELCAC.