Major Gen. Nolasco Mempin, commander of the Army's 10th Infantry Division. (PNA file photo)
DAVAO CITY – The Army's 10th Infantry Division (10ID) has declared the province of Davao Del Norte as “insurgency-free.”
In a statement on Monday evening, 10ID said the declaration came after the “successful dismantling” of all communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrilla fronts (GFs) in Davao del Norte through the government's multipronged counter-insurgency campaign.
At least five NPA guerrilla units operated in the province in 2016—all under the NPA's Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC), 10ID said,
The number went down to two in 2020, culminating with the collapse of SMRC's GF3—described as one of the oldest guerrilla fronts in the country—early this year, 10ID said.
Major Gen. Nolasco Mempin, 10ID commander, said the campaign against communist insurgency in Davao del Norte was “not an easy journey.”
In particular, Mempin said local government units and the communities bore the brunt of “the lies and violence perpetrated by the communist rebels.”
“Let us all commit to ensuring that these terrorists will not take away the peaceful and harmonious life that we have fought for a long time,” the Army official said.
Mempin said the dismantling of the NPA units “significantly diminish” the rebels' to “smallest size, including its strength, firearms, and their ability to recruit, train, organize, or recover their mass bases or areas.”
Likewise, he said the implementation of the Development Support and Security Plan (DSSP) “Kapayapaan”, and later, the Executive Order No. 70 which institutionalized the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), boosted the Army's counter-insurgency campaign.
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)
