DISMANTLED. The military's Eastern Mindanao Command announces Monday (June 13, 2022) the collapse of the oldest New People's Army (NPA) in Davao Region. NPA's Guerilla Front was effectively dismantled following the surrender of its leaders and members on June 10, 2022 in Maragusan, Davao de Oro. (Photo courtesy of 10ID)
DAVAO CITY—The military's Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) announced Monday the collapse of the New People’s Army (NPA) Guerrilla Front 2 (GF2), the oldest communist rebel unit operating in Mindanao.
Lt. Gen. Greg Almerol, the Eastmincom commander, said the collapse stems from the surrender of the unit's top leaders to the Army's 10th Infantry Division's (10ID) in the hinterlands of Maragusan, Davao de Oro, on June 10.
In a statement Monday, Eastmincom said GF 2 was one of the oldest guerilla fronts in the country along with GF3, which was earlier declared “dismantled” in April. Both guerilla fronts operated in the Davao Region.
Almerol identified two of the GF2 surrenderers only as “Dandan,” front secretary under the NPA's Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC), and her party husband known as Jeg or JR, the unit's commanding officer.
The other surrenderers were described as a squad leader and a squad supply officer of a subunit under the SMRC.
Almerol said the surrenders decided to return to the law as “there was no more place for them to move due to the 10ID’s intense counter-insurgency campaign.”
The rebels also claimed they were abandoned by their top-ranking leader Eric Jun Casilao, SMRC's secretary.
Last month, the Army reported that Casilao abandoned his comrades and fled with the party's money worth PHP6 million.
“It leaves us confronting one remaining NPA unit under the SMRC. Rest assured that we will hunt its leaders to end their atrocities, once and for all,” Almerol said.
“Our focused military operations coupled with the government's development efforts have put the NPA on the brink of collapse,” he added.
He also reiterated his call to the remnants of the NPA to surrender and avail the benefits of the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The Anti-Terrorism Council also formally designated the National Democratic Front as a terrorist organization on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA that was created in April 1973. (PNA)
