Insurgency: Marcos is Daydreaming

Last week we heard Año saying the insurgency will be defeated by the end of President Marcos' term. The CPP says they are day dreaming.

https://philippinerevolution.nu/statements/marcos-is-daydreaming-that-he-can-defeat-the-npa/

Officials of the Marcos regime are daydreaming when they make declarations of attaining “strategic victory” and defeating the New People’s Army (NPA). These wishful declarations are not new. They have been issuing exactly the same statements for three decades now and have repeatedly been proven wrong by facts.

General Año’s pronouncement yesterday of “ending the local communist armed conflict” within the term of the Marcos government rings hollow, especially after an NPA unit carried out a successful against the much detested 85th IB in Tagkawayan, Quezon last Friday morning, in which Red fighters seized five high-powered rifles and inflicted a number of casualties against the AFP. The ambush blasts recent claims that Quezon is already “insurgency free.” Together with the recent tactical offensives of the NPA in Masbate and Negros, the AFP’s much-hyped PR line that the NPA has “only active guerrilla front” is clearly a figment of their imagination.

The Filipino people and their people’s army will continue to wage armed struggle as long as US imperialism, oppression, bureaucratic corruption and social injustice prevails. The broad masses of the Filipino people are continually being roused to take up arms by widespread landlessness, grossly low wages, economic dislocation, environmental destruction, and rampant dispossession of their sources of income and means of production.

Over the past few years, the fascist reactionaries have waged an all-out campaign of state terrorism with the desperate aim of shattering the bond between the NPA and the broad masses of the Filipino people. But the more Marcos employs terrorism against the people, the more that this bond is tempered and reinforced. Indeed, without the NPA, the Filipino people have nothing to defend themselves with and will be left to the mercy of multinational corporations, the IMF and World Bank, big bourgeois compradors, landlords, and bureaucrat capitalists.

The aim of achieving complete victory might not yet be within the immediate horizon of the NPA. But it is determined to frustrate the AFP’s current campaign of encirclement and suppression, fight the Marcos regime’s rule of all-out state terrorism, and carry forward the armed struggle to even greater heights.

NO matter how determined they are the aim of achieving complete victory is nowhere within the immediate horizon of the NPA.  Despite the AFP's waffling on the matter it is rathe evident that the NPA is on the way out. Certainly by the end of the 21st century if not sooner. 

The NTF-ELCAC says they are on track to curb the remaining insurgents. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1209110

The government is on track to wipe out the remaining New People's Army (NPA) units still operating in the country following the declaration of Palawan as an insurgency-free province.

The latest feat brings the country closer to the Marcos administration's vision of a united, peaceful and prosperous nation, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said in a Facebook post Monday.

"The NTF-ELCAC lauds this achievement as a significant breakthrough that reflects the collective efforts of the local government, the security sector and civil society. " the agency stated.

The body also reiterated its commitment to promoting peace in all aspects of its work -- from diplomacy and security to development and human rights.

"We believe that peace is not only the absence of violence but also the presence of justice, equality, and dignity for all. We are one in attaining unity, peace, and development," the NTF-ELCAC said.

The Army has declared the remaining NPA in Samar as roving bandits. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1209313

The remnants of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Samar Island now are classified as roving bandits with no single village official supporting their ideology, an Army official said Wednesday.

Maj. Gen. Camilo Ligayo, commander of the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division told reporters that the remaining NPA rebels are jittery with the continued deaths, capture, and surrender of their leaders.

“The remaining 180 active regular NPA members are now roving bandits with the dismantling of two guerilla fronts and weakening of two others. They refuse to surrender since they are facing criminal charges,” Ligayo said in an interview Wednesday.

The official is confident in eradicating insurgents in three Samar provinces before the end of the year.

There are about 10 army battalions assigned in Samar province as the government heightened its fight against communist insurgents.

Only two NPA guerilla fronts in Samar Island remain in existence after the dismantling of one front and the weakening of another early this year.

But these fronts are already weakened with the surrender of mass supporters in communities.

Ligayo said the rebel’s Front Committee 2 that operated at the border of Samar and Northern Samar has been demolished after the capture and surrender of some of their combatants and recovery of firearms.

He said the NPA Front Committee 3, which operated near the borders of Northern and Eastern Samar, has been dismantled after a series of operations by government forces.

This kind of declaration is good propaganda but bad doctrine if it is really believed. If there is one thing the AFP should not do it is underestimate the strength and determination of the NPA to launch attacks whether out of principle for their cause or out of desperation to stay ahead of the law. 

In Negros Occidental 55 barangays have been identified as "areas of concern" due to NPA influence in the upcoming election.

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2023/09/06/2294088/55-negros-occidental-barangays-eyed-areas-concern

Citing sightings of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, the Provincial Joint Security Coordinating Center (PJSCC) said 55 barangays in Negros Occidental should be categorized as areas of concern in the forthcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

Brig. Gen. Orlando Edralin, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said the PJSCC is leaving the matter to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

He said the 55 barangays had earlier been cleared of communist rebels, but there were renewed attempts by remnants of the NPA to recover their lost territories.

He stressed the need for law enforcers and the public to remain vigilant against rebel infiltration, especially in communities that have been declared NPA-free.

The Comelec said areas of election concern or election hotspots are places where there is potential violence or tension among local candidates, presence of armed rebels and a history of election-related violence.

Edralin said NPA rebels in Negros make their presence felt by collecting so-called permit to campaign or win fees.

All 55 barangays have been declared insurgency free and yet the NPA is doing its best to make a comeback. I suppose you can't fault them for trying. But you can fault the AFP for premature declarations of "insurgency free" when there are still insurgents. 

This back and forth between the NPA being both a non-entity and a force to reckon with is best illustrated in the DepEd's claim that16 public high schools in the NCR are engaged in NPA recruitment. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1826446/deped-claims-16-public-high-schools-in-ncr-are-engaging-in-npa-recruitment

Sixteen (16) public high schools in Metro Manila are involved in the recruitment activities of New People’s Army.

Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary and Spokesperson Michael Poa made this revelation on Monday during the deliberations on the proposed budget of DepEd for 2024.

The DepEd official, however, did not identify the names of the institutions engaging in this illegal campaigns.

He gave the information to justify why the department is requesting P150 million confidential fund.

“The threats nowadays, whether it be recruitment or drug-related activities, [are] quite alarming in our schools,” Poa explained in a mix of English and Filipino.

“That’s why we requested for the confidential funds so that we can help in prevention and, of course, in coordination with law enforcement agencies, when it comes to the response to such things,” he said.

“In fact, we have information that 16 public high schools just within Metro Manila are involved in [NPA] recruitment activities,” the spokesperson disclosed.

Without naming the schools, Poa proceeded to talk about the alleged target age bracket of NPAs in employing students.

According to the DepEd official, 12 percent of the rebels who surrendered from 2016 to 2022 were minors, aged 12 to 17 years old.

Poa also said over 5,000 minors were discovered to have been involved in drug-related activities from July 2022 to July 2023.

Of this number, 871 minors were rescued.

Amid this record, Poa admitted DepEd can also “live without” the proposed confidential funds.

However, he stressed the provision of the fund will make their jobs easier.

“As the Vice President has always said, we defer to the wisdom of Congress when it comes to the [approval of] our confidential funds,” he said.

“The reason why we made the request is, of course, [in line] with our mandate of providing accessible and quality basic education,” he added.

DepEd is asking for a P758 billion budget for 2024.

This proposed amount includes P150 million in confidential fund.

Of course we cannot expect the DepEd to name those schools but they should be able to reconcile how the AFP has declared a strategic victory over the CPP-NPA with how they are able to continue recruiting. The DepEd says this information has been verified by the NICA. 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/5/dep-ed-working-with-authorities-to-put-a-stop-to-alleged-npa-recruitment-in-schools

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday, Sept. 5, confirmed that it is currently coordinating with concerned law enforcement agencies to “put a stop” to the alleged recruitment activities of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Metro Manila schools.

“We cannot give the names of the schools due to the sensitive nature of the issue,” DepEd Undersecretary and Spokesperson Michael Poa told reporters in a Viber message.

During the Senate hearing on DepEd's proposed 2024 budget on Sept. 4, Poa alleged that 16 public high schools in the National Capital Region (NCR) are involved in NPA recruitment activities.

When asked for more details on the matter, Poa maintained that “info was vetted by NICA [National Intelligence Coordinating Agency], as I mentioned during the hearing yesterday.”

But how reliable is the NICA? They claim to know the names of 300,000 to 400,000 CPP affiliated members working for the government. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129696

“We know who they are, that they are even party members, supporters of the CPP [Communist Party of the Philippines]. 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.

“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.

It's been two years now since this report. Who are these people? What has happened to them? It's all so tiresome.