DAVAO CITY, Philippines -- (UPDATE) Armed Forces chief General Alexander Yano admitted on Saturday the government's renewed campaign might not be able to wipe out the communist insurgency by 2010, a target set earlier by both his predecessor, retired General Hermogenes Esperon, and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Nonetheless, Yanao said during a visit to the Eastern Mindanao Command here that the military shall have reduced the New People’s Army "to ineffectiveness" by 2010 although this projected victory will not be total.

"There maybe remnants," he told reporters here. But he added that "these remnants are not good enough to affect the government."

"They will only become a matter of concern for the law enforcement agency but not a security threat," Yano said.

In a statement recently sent to the media, communist spokesperson Gregorio Rosal claimed the rebels scored a series of victories on the field and that the rebel movement posted significant increases in "practically all areas of revolutionary work during the previous year to date."

Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of the Merardo Arce Command in Southern Mindanao, also said that despite the government campaign, the NPA had not been weakened even after 39 years of revolutionary struggle.

"The NPA is well-consolidated in ideology, politics and organization. Thirty-nine years of revolutionary struggle has tempered it in guerrilla warfare, service to the people and discipline,” Sanchez said in a statement issued this week.

“It is able to withstand the AFP campaigns of suppression and continuously develop from small to big and from weak to strong due to the wide and deep support of the masses," he said.

Sanchez said the NPA will relentlessly "defend the people's interests and the gains of the revolution. We are prepared to face further attacks by the AFP. Together with the masses, we shall develop more blows to the people's enemy as we have recently done."

But Yano said the government was actually winning the battle contrary to the claims of NPA leaders.

He issued the statement in the wake of reports about the military's capture of two NPA camps in Northern Mindanao in less than a week.

The NPA camps in Pangatucan, Bukidnon, and in Mabini, Surigao City, were seized on May 11 and May 15, respectively, following "relentless offensive actions," according to the military's 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City.

"We are strategically defeating the rebels," Yano said.

He also said the military's 2010 deadline was on track.

Yano said by that year, the rebel group shall have been reduced to an ineffective force.

"It (NPA) would be like a boxer -- di mo nga natumba pero hindi na makalaban (you may not be able to knock him down but he can’t fight either) -- no longer able to put up a decent fight," he said.

Yano said it was important to reduce the strength of the insurgents because "lives are at stake here."

He also said the military was not pursuing a single strategy to win the fight against the NPA because "there is no single effective approach in ending the insurgency in the country."

"There are soft and hard approaches -- it's a carrot and stick thing. There are measures that are applicable and only effective in certain areas and not in other areas… For those who are armed, it will be military approach. For those who are willing to go back to the folds of the law, they will be treated according to what they deserve," Yano said.

He also said the military was supporting calls for peace with the rebels.

"It is the policy of the government to forge peace with rebel groups and the military is supportive of the advocacy for the peace process," he said.

Asked about reports that government negotiators secretly met with communist leaders in Norway, Yano said he was not aware of it.

He said the matter was at the level of the "higher echelon of the government."