ARMED Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr yesterday said the number of “weakened” guerrilla fronts of the New People’s Army (NPA) is down to just 11 with a little over 1,500 fighters left.
After a command conference presided over by President Marcos Jr at Camp Aguinaldo, Brawner said the military will try its best to end the insurgency problem this year.
Last December, the Armed Forces reported there was zero “active” guerrilla front in the country. However, it said there were 13 weakened guerrilla fronts remaining as of that month.
Yesterday, Brawner said, “In our presentation this morning, we presented to the President that from 13, its now down to 11, the weakened guerrilla fronts.”
Brawner said the military leadership congratulated commanders and their men “for that very important accomplishment that they have done.”
“However, we would like to point out that even if we have already decreased the number of guerrilla fronts, there are still NPA formations that are out there,” he said.
Brawner said the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), is trying to recover the areas they have lost.
He said military commanders were given “new set of targets” in the campaign against communist insurgency but did not elaborate.
“They (NPA rebels) are still there, they are still a force to reckon with. That is why we gave targets to our commanders to end the problem on communist terrorist groups and local terrorist groups,” he said.
As to the NPA membership, Brawner said “the estimate is just now a little over 1,500 from a high of 25,000 in the in the late 80s and early 90s.”
Asked if the military can end the insurgency problem this year, Brawner said: “We will try to do that.”
Brawner said that once the military ends the problem posed by the communists and terrorists in Mindanao, “we could shift our focus on territorial defense.”
The CPP on Sunday dismissed Marcos’ claim the NPA no longer has an active guerrilla front.
In a statement on Sunday, CPP spokesman Marco Valbuena asked why there are 60,000 to 70,000 government troops or around 150 battalions deployed for counter-insurgency operations throughout the country.
“With his claims, Marcos should answer why is it that the AFP continues to be focused and deployed mainly against the NPA, instead of gearing up to defend the country against US-China armed conflicts?,” said Valbuena.
On Saturday, Marcos reported there are no more active NPA guerrilla front as of last month. He said 1,399 rebels have been neutralized, and 1,751 rebel firearms seized.
Valbuena said the NPA “remains active in 14 regional commands across the country each with a number of guerrilla fronts.”
Valbuena admitted the NPA suffered setbacks in the past years but said “the NPA is far from defeated.”
He said the CPP’s “rectification movement” has filled the NPA with fighters and commanders “with renewed revolutionary energy to serve the people.”
Valbuena said the NPA will continue to launch tactical offensives “to strike at the enemy’s weak points where they will least expect it.”
“The NPA will make sure that it will outlast Marcos, just like it outlasted his father and all the US-supported governments of the past 35 years who all bragged of crushing the NPA,” said Valbuena.
