Will the military succeed this time?

- Advertisement -

THE military is aiming to dismantle all guerrilla fronts or fighting units of the New People’s Army this month, according to AFP chief Gen. Romer Brawner Jr.

As of January this year, there were 11 “weakened” NPA guerrilla fronts throughout the country, and no “active” fronts as of December last year.

Past Armed Forces chiefs have targeted to defeat the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), but failed.

- Advertisement -

Latest military estimates place the NPA strength at 1,000 men from a high of around 25,000 in the 1980s.

“This year, we have given our units nationwide our targets. We told them that by the end of March, all guerrilla fronts, even the weakened guerrilla fronts, will have to be dismantled already,” Brawner said on Saturday at the headquarters of the AFP Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) in Lucena City, during the assumption of Maj. Gen. Facundo Palafox as Solcom commander.

“By the end of June, all vertical units (NPA formations) will have to finished, decimated, let’s finish them,” said Brawner.

“And by the end of the year, all regional party committees and sub-regional party committees are also dismantled,” he said.

Brawner noted the recent neutralization of the secretary of the CPP-NPA Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee.

He was referring to Aprecia Rosete, alias Bambam, who died last week in a clash with troops from the Army’s 53rd Infantry Battalion in Dumingag town in Zamboanga del Sur.

“This will be the first regional party committee that we will be erasing from the face of this earth,” Brawner said.

“That will be your job here at Southern Luzon Command,” Brawner told Palafox, referring to the dismantling of guerrilla fronts, vertical units, and regional and sub-regional party committees of the communist movement.

“So good luck. It’s a tall order but you can do this especially with the caliber of the commanders that you have here at the Southern Luzon Command,” he added.

‘BOLD ORDER’

Col. Xerxes Trinidad, chief of the AFP public affairs office, said an NPA guerilla front usually operates in two provinces.

Trinidad also described Brawner’s directive to dismantle all NPA guerrilla fronts on or before the end of this month as a “very bold, tall order.”

He said Brawner has been visiting military installations “because he wants to make sure that the plan crafted by the AFP is really implemented down the line, down to the battalion level.”

“While it is true that there is no more active guerrilla front, there are still weakened guerrilla fronts remaining… We want total victory, that’s why that is our target,” he said.

Meanwhile, Brawner urged soldiers to remain “solid and professional” as he noted the military’s slogan “One AFP, one Philippines; Strong AFP, strong Philippines.”

“We only have one Armed Forces here in our country” he said, adding the NPA and other threat groups are not the country’s armed forces.

“We only have one country. Let’s love our country. We can’t divide our country into two or three,” he added Brawner.

He said the AFP is modernizing its equipment and continue to train its men to become stronger.

- Advertisement -spot_img

“If we have a strong AFP, our country will be more capable in preventing forces from going here to invade us,” said Brawner.

On territorial defense operations, Brawner said it’s not just “looking outward.”

“We should also be looking inward, we should be vigilant of our institutions which are slowly infiltrated by outsiders. Let’s guard against that. We may wake up one day having parts of our country that we will not be able to access anymore because we have lost sovereignty over these areas,” said Brawner.

Author

- Advertisement -

Share post: