(File photo)
MANILA – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said it has achieved significant gains against the New People's Army (NPA) communist terrorist group by reducing the number of its guerrilla fronts by almost 74 percent under the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
"(As)far as the military is concerned, we have achieved significant gains in the conduct of military operations against the threat, I'm referring to the armed threat (posed by the NPAs), (we reduced them) almost 74 percent, there used to be 89 guerilla fronts when President (Rodrigo) Duterte assumed office in 2016 but as of 30 June this year they were reduced to 23," said AFP acting spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar when asked to assess the Duterte administration's efforts against the NPA in a hybrid press briefing Thursday.
"Now I think it's the stubbornness of the CPP not to abandon (the) armed struggle, they are still clinging to it, hoping that if this call for the CPP to abandon (the) armed struggle (gains momentum) because it is destroying our country, probably we can force them to do so," Aguilar said.
Also, the AFP spokesperson added that the NPA insurgency is not only a problem of the military and requires a whole-of-nation approach to resolve.
"The insurgency is not just a military problem, it has many factors, it has so many facets so we have to address it, a whole-of-nation approach," Aguilar said even as he requested the help of the media in addressing the issue.
And while it is the duty of the AFP to suppress the armed rebellion, Aguilar also said efforts are also needed to address the reasons or issues being raised by those joining the ranks of the communist terrorists.
"It is our duty to suppress armed rebellion but we also have to address the supply of those who are joining this insurgency, so that involves other government agencies and that's the reason why the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict) have several clusters, each of these clusters are addressing specific sectors from which the CPP is recruiting its members so by stopping the inflow of human resources to the underground movement is a critical task that we have to, that the government has to address as a whole," he added.
When asked for an exact figure on how many NPAs were killed, surrendered and the remaining forces of the communist terrorists, Aguilar said he would rather say that the AFP has "regained or recovered more than 25,000 members, supporters, and sympathizers of the underground movement."
"This is a very big number which (is) actually a strategic victory that we have achieved, we don't say that it is a military accomplishment but it is a whole-of-nation accomplishment because even you, (the) media have contributed in spreading the good news of the E-CLIP (Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program), the implementation of E-CLIP that gives the former rebels a new direction to start a new life," he added.
As of this time, Aguilar said the number of remaining armed NPAs is around 2,000 but these numbers are still for validation.
"Now as to the number of armed components, they are reduced to more or less 2,000 or less so we can, we are still waiting for the figure that will be validated later on," he added. (PNA)
