‘Intensify focus military operations,’ AFP chief tells troops
CPP-NPA only has 25 'weakened' guerilla fronts
THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) assured that its anti-terrorism campaign targeting the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), has not been affected by a Manila court’s ruling that dismisses a government petition to declare them as “terrorist organizations” (see related article in this issue).
AFP spokesperson, Colonel Medel Aguilar, in a talk with Pinoy Exposé, said the instruction of AFP chief, Gen. Bartolome Vicente ‘Bob’ Bacarro to operating troops is clear: “to further intensify ‘focus military operations’” (FMO) in the remaining areas of the country where the CPP-NPA continue to maintain some presence.
Prior to his ascension to the highest military post, Bacarro is a seasoned combat officer and only among the few living ‘MOV’ (Medal of Valor) awardee, the highest military award, after leading his men in a fierce gunbattle against the NPA in Maconacon, Isabela province in 1991.
Citing from the records, Aguilar said the relentless military ground operations combined with the efforts of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), has resulted to the dwindling of CPP-NPA ‘guerilla fronts’ (GFs).
From 89 identified GFs six years ago, at the start of the Duterte administration in 2016, to just 25 “weakened” GFs, at the start of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.’s administration.
Meanwhile, from more than 4,000 armed combatants of the NPA, the number has been nearly halved, to more than 2,000 for the same period, Aguilar bared.
“We are continuing our ‘validation’ to determine the exact number of remaining CPP-NPA GFs,” he added.
Numbers don’t lie
The figure of more than 4,000 NPA armed fighters occupying 52 GFs is nearly the same in 1992, at the start of the Ramos administration (1992-1998).
However, Ramos’ policy blunders in dealing with the CTGs allowed the CPP to recover that by 2000, NPA strength has grown back to more than 9,000 fully-armed fighters spread over some 110 GFs.
However, after the creation of the NTF-ELCAC and the AFP’s shift to FMOs, CPP-NPA strength and influence were greatly diminished, as the records would also show.
According to the data of the NTF-ELCAC, more than 10,000 regular and local NPA forces and local ‘Milisya ng Bayan’ (MBs) were either captured, neutralized or decided to surrender while the recovered firearms of various calibers were placed at more than 10,000.
The figures are beside the more than 20,000 members and local cadres of the CPP who are running its various underground and above-ground organizations who have also returned to the folds of the law.
Aguilar further noted that the CPP-NPA’s “last remaining bastion,” the Davao region in Mindanao, has been effectively neutralized with the collapse of the Southern Mindanao Regional Party Committee (SMRPC).
Intensive and relentless FMOs also resulted to the growing instances of NPA fighters simply leaving behind their dead or wounded comrades, including their own leaders.
In particular, Aguilar, citing a report from the 4th Infantry Division last September 23, 2022, said they finally identified a decomposing body left behind by the fleeing terrorists after a gunbattle in Agusan del Norte last September 14, 2022.
The cadaver was that of Rolando Rubilla ‘Edroy’ Leyson, Jr., secretary of GF 16, Northeastern Mindanao Regional Party Committee.
Operating troops from the 29th Infantry Battalion, 901st Infantry Brigade, stumbled on the decomposing body of Leyson in the forested area of Bgy. Cuyago, Jabonga, Agusan del Norte while in pursuit of the fleeing terrorists under Leyson.
“Leyson’s death was the result of the previous encounter of 29IB against Sub Regional Committee (SRC) Northland on September 14, 2022.
“Apparently, the cadaver was dragged by his companions but eventually was left behind to evade our pursuing troops,” explained BGen George Banzon, 901st Brigade commander.
Banzon added that Leyson has multiple warrants of arrest and over 25 criminal cases pending in court for the crime of arson, attempted murder, murder, multiple attempted murders, kidnapping, and serious illegal detention.
“We urge his wife, Juanita Pableo “Kikay” Saavedra-Leyson, also a CTG key leader, to surrender so that she can have peace of mind, pay his last respect and properly bury his late husband,” the official added.
