Insurgency: Much Needs To Be Done

The NTF-ELCAC has declared 3 more NPA fronts have been dismantled. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1221533

Three more weakened guerilla fronts of the New People's Army (NPA) have been dismantled, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) reported.

"Right now, we have zero active guerrilla fronts already but we still have 11 weakened guerrilla fronts to totally defeat: five in Luzon, three in the Visayas and another three in Mindanao. But as we speak now, meron ng mga reports (there are reports referring to) the eventual total dismantling of two guerrilla fronts in the Visayas and another one in Mindanao," NTF-ELCAC executive director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said in a statement released Monday night.

He added they are only waiting for the official validation of the dismantling of these three weakened guerilla fronts before coming out with an official announcement.

Torres also said significant progress had been made this year in terms of neutralizing members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) and weakening their ranks.

But the dismantling of these fronts have not even been verified. Why say anything then? Why announce this when they are waiting on validation before "coming out with an official announcement?" 

The NSA is encouraging all rebels to apply for amnesty. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1221541

National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo Año on Tuesday renewed his call for remnants of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) to avail of the amnesty program offered by the government.

Año, also chair of the National Security Council (NSC), said this invitation is open to all rebels wishing to reunite with their families and loved ones and integrate with mainstream society.

"The National Amnesty Commission has begun accepting applications for amnesty after Congress concurred with the Amnesty Proclamation of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. This is a significant development and a game changer in ending the more than 50-year communist armed conflict in the country," he said in a statement.

Año also said the amnesty program will allow these rebels to build a peaceful and brighter future for themselves and their families.

"We encourage all the remaining active members of the armed rebel groups to seize and embrace this chance for reconciliation and renewal of hope as we all work together towards lasting peace and development," he added.

He also noted that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict is on track to dismantle all remaining weakened guerilla fronts before the end of the year.

The problem is informing them of this amnesty and their being able to access the internet to fill out the forms. But surely it has to be easy because the NTF-ELCAC has handed out so much money to surrounding rebels that they must have a list. Right?

The fight goes on against those who do not surrender. Two high ranking NPA leaders were recently killed.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/3/26/high-ranking-npa-leader-2-others-killed-in-batangas-clash-military-2117

A high-ranking member of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) and two others were killed in an encounter with the military in Batangas Tuesday. 

According to the Philippine Army, military troops were conducting operations at Barangay Leviste in Rosario town when they encountered an undetermined number of gunmen allegedly led by Junalice Arante-Isita alyas Arya, from the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee.

Isita and two others, Bernardo Bagaas alias John Paul, and Erickson Bedonia, alias Ricky, were killed in the 30-minute firefight.

Authorities also recovered several high-powered firearms, 6 jungle packs, and a wire for improvised explosive devices (IED).

Isita has a standing warrant of arrest for violating Republic Act 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. She was the wife of Isagani Isita alias Yano, who died on July 30, 2023 in Quezon.

The neutralization of Isita is “a substantial blow to the NPA’s leadership and their reorganization effort in Batangas province,” the military added.

Of course the death of this leader is “a substantial blow to the NPA’s leadership and their reorganization effort in Batangas province." It's the same script they give after every death of an NPA leader. 

Two soldiers were hurt in a clash with NPA in Quezon. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1923020/2-soldiers-hurt-in-clash-with-npa-in-quezon

Two Philippine Army soldiers were wounded in an encounter Monday with suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Calauag town in Quezon province.

The Region 4A police identified the wounded troops in an initial report on Tuesday, March 26, as Sergeant Gilbert Esteban, 33, and Corporal Anthony Quierre, 31, who were both hit by shrapnel from an improvised explosive device set up by NPA rebels.

They were taken to the nearest hospital for treatment.

The report said a unit from the Army’s 85th Infantry Battalion was conducting a patrol around 6 p.m. when they encountered NPA rebels in Barangay Doña Aurora.The report did not provide added details on the encounter except that no residents were affected during the clash.

Government checkpoints have been established in strategic areas to support the ongoing pursuit operations against the NPA rebels on the run.

The government forces are also monitoring hospitals and clinics near the area to search for the wounded alleged NPA rebels.

Calauag is located in the province’s 4th district on the boundary of Bicol region.

In June last year, Quezon was declared free from the influence of communist insurgents after it attained “Stable Internal Peace and Security” or SIPS status, which means that the Communist Party of the Philippines, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, and the NPA are no longer a threat to the peace and order in its localities.

However, authorities admitted that the NPA may still have remnants in the province.

But last year Quezon was declared insurgent free! Yet it turns out they are not really insurgent free. So why make that declaration? 

The CPP belies AFP reports of their demise.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1749858/npas-54th-anniv-cpp-touts-steady-advance-afp-sneers-at-irrelevant-movement

The 54th founding anniversary of the communist New People’s Army on Wednesday, March 29, prompted a war of words between both sides of the conflict.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) touted the government’s failure to fully crush the NPA, but the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the Maoist movement is nearing its end.

“The NPA has steadily advanced and surmounted every disadvantage and setback at every historical juncture,” the CPP Central Committee said in its anniversary message.

“It has frustrated the enemy’s campaigns of encirclement and suppression one after another.”

The CPP, while stressing that the AFP’s encirclement campaigns “largely failed to attain its declared objective” of crushing the NPA, admitted that some regions or guerrilla fronts suffered from losses or significant setbacks “due to internal weaknesses and shortcomings.”

The NPA has ben directed to carry out more attacks against government forces. 

https://philippinerevolution.nu/statements/party-directs-npa-to-carry-out-tactical-offensives-frustrate-us-marcos-regimes-war-of-terror/

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today directed the New People’s Army (NPA) to mount tactical offensives that it is capable of winning as it wages a war of active defense to frustrate the brutal campaign of encirclement and suppression being waged by the US-Marcos regime, and shatter the reign of terror of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the countryside.

The Party’s directive was contained in a statement by the Central Committee issued today on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the New People’s Army.

According to the CPP Central Committee, all regional committees of the Party and NPA commands at levels have welcomed the call for rectification movement issued by the Central Committee last December, to correct past errors in order to strengthen the people’s resistance against worsening oppression under the US-Marcos regime.

In fulfilling the directive of mounting tactical offensives, the NPA takes military and political initiative by way of rectifying past errors and overcome the problem of military passivity which resulted from the intertwined problems of conservatism, complacency and self-constriction.

The CPP said the NPA, along with the people’s militias, must carry out all possible kinds of tactical offensives employing all kinds of weapons in the hands of the guerrilla forces and the people, from rocks, machetes, booby traps, rifles and land mines and all sort of weapons that the people can craft.

Units of the NPA and the people’s militias can lay out an ambush against the enemy’s reconnaissance units, perimeter defense or supply lines, attack his isolated outposts, carry out disarming, sniping, demolition, partisan and arrest operations, impose sanctions, mete out justice on counterrevolutionaries and criminal antisocial elements, and so on.

In mounting these tactical offensives, the NPA must aim to seize the enemy’s rifles and war matériel, destroy its supply and communication lines, immobilize their land, air and sea assets, disrupt its plans or blocking its advance, and drawing away its attention from the main direction and plans of the main forces of the NPA.

The CPP underscored that the NPA favors launching basic tactical offensives that weakens the enemy by annihilating its armed forces piece by piece, and takes away its weapons in order that we can arm more recruits and mount even bigger tactical offensives in the future.

The AFP says they do not have the capability to carry out such attacks but remain vigilant anyway.

It's the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro. President Marcos says there is sill much needed to be done to end armed conflict in Mindanao. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1923745/marcos-on-goal-to-end-armed-conflict-in-mindanao-much-needs-to-be-done

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said that while much has been done to advance the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), more work remains to be done.

In a Facebook reel posted Wednesday night, Marcos reiterated that the government is committed to enacting the CAB as it celebrated its 10th anniversary.

The CAB is an agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the national government to end its armed conflict.

“There were certainly many challenges, but we persevered. Today, as your president, I stand before you, committed to fulfilling that promise. We have achieved progress, and much needs to be done,” said Marcos.

“Together, we are already enacting vital legislation, ensuring fair elections in 2025, and empowering the Bangsamoro to chart your own prosperous future,” he noted.

“This is our legacy. Let us build it together,” he added.

Marcos recounted that he was one of the legislators who participated in the drafting of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

“A decade ago, the comprehensive agreement on Bangsamoro lit up our hopes for peace. As a legislator, I proudly participated in drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law, recognizing the importance of inclusivity and respect for diverse cultures,” said Marcos.

In 2015, the then-senator Marcos called the proposed measure dead as Congress ran out of time to pass it during the last year of former president Benigno Aquino III’s term.

The BBL was eventually passed and signed into law during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte.