AFP gives conflicting figures on NPA strength

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) released on Friday conflicting figures of the strength of the New People’s Army (NPA), which they claimed to be declining because of their combat operations and development projects.

AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc first said in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo that there were about 4,433 communist rebels as of last quarter 2014.

For the first quarter of 2015, the NPA figures were down to 4,092 members, Cabunoc said.

He said 340 NPA members were neutralized from the first quarter of 2015 to present while 166 firearms were recovered from the rebels.

He also said 58 provinces had been declared “peaceful and ready for further development” and 10 cleared from insurgents.

“A total of 330 cases were already filed against these NPAs in competent courts while 212 warrants of arrest were already released,” Cabunoc said.

A press release from the AFP public affairs office in December, however, said there were 3,200 NPA members as of yearend 2014.

Asked by the media to clarify the figures, Cabunoc said during the press briefing that the 3,200 were the armed component of the NPA while the 1,200 were the noncombatants.

In past instances, however, noncombatants were usually not included in the NPA strength.

Cabunoc would later give the corrected NPA strength to about 2,800.

A press release that followed no longer contained the quarterly figures.

The military leadership held a command conference on Friday at Camp Aguinaldo, which was attended by leaders of the major services of the Armed Forces and top regional military commanders.

The leaders discussed the gains of the anti-insurgency security plan called Internal Peace and Security Plan Bayanihan.

The numbers remained almost unchanged since the implementation of IPSP in 2011, which was at about 4,000.

The campaign plan, which focuses on noncombat approach in dealing with insurgents, ends in 2016.

“Hopefully dahan-dahan mag-shift sa territorial defense. Naniniwala kami nagco-collapse na insurgency … We are optimistic about it and we are calling our partners from the local government, the Philippine National Police, and our people in the ground to help us … We believe that these problems are not only solved through military operations,” he said.

He also could not immediately comment on the strength of the Abu Sayyaf.

“There is a variation in number because we don’t know yet if there are new recruits or there were newly neutralized bandits,” he said.

Brig. Gen. Alan Arrojado of Joint Task Group Sulu said there were about 400 ASG members in the island province alone.

The Abu Sayyaf members are believed to be scattered in Western Mindanao area.