Communist rebels: AFP to eat own words on ‘liberated’ provinces

OZAMIZ CITY, Philippines – Communist rebels have threatened to make the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) “eat its own words” regarding its claims about the string of provinces liberated from New People’s Army (NPA) influence.

In a statement, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said the NPA “continues to launch more and more tactical offensives across the archipelago” as it laughed off a government report citing 23 NPA-free provinces.

The NPA is the armed wing of the CPP.

The CPP cited an incident last December 11 when NPA guerrillas in Leyte launched a tactical offensive against a Philippine Army unit just three days after government declared the province “insurgency-free.”

The provinces considered by the AFP as NPA-liberated areas are Apayao, Ifugao, Kalinga, Nueva Viscaya, Quirino, Nueva Ecija, Aurora, Biliran, Cebu, Bohol, Camiguin, Misamis Oriental, South Cotabato, La Union, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Cavite, Marinduque, Romblon, Guimaras, Siquijor, Northern and Southern Leyte.

The CPP has been holding on-and-off peace talks with government through its political front, the National Democratic Front (NDF). It leads one of the world’s longest-running and few remaining communist insurgencies.

Last December 26, the CPP observed its 43rd founding anniversary. Its armed forces and guerrilla support bases have been whittled down beginning in 1994, following an acrimonious internal split caused by, among others, unresolved debates over an appropriate revolutionary strategy. It took a decade before NPA elements were able to launch offensives.

The NPA attack on a nickel mining operation in Surigao del Norte last October has emboldened the CPP’s expectation it could consolidate its military strength much faster.

The CPP said “all revolutionary forces under its leadership, including the NPA, continue to undertake revolutionary work in nearly 70 provinces, building local Party branches and mass organizations and launching anti-feudal, anti-fascist and anti-imperialist mass struggles and military offensives against the reactionary armed forces.”

In Davao City, Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte expressed hope that peace talks between the government and the communist rebels and between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front would continue even as he noted the tremendous economic growth Davao City has been enjoying.

“We have a tremendous growth in the construction sector, there is a boom going on in Davao City and I hope there will be less violence this year to allow this boom to continue,” he said during his Sunday television program Gikan sa masa, para sa masa.

The recent years have witnessed the sprouting of new condominiums and malls in Davao city, triggering fear that the city might run out of areas devoted to food crops with the fast conversion of former rice lands into commercial purposes.

Duterte said he wished the boom would continue without threatening the food security in the city. He also thanked the NPA’s “restraint” in dealing with government forces until such time when conditions will again augur well for the peace talks.

“I thank Parago (also known as local NPA leader Leoncio Pitao) for avoiding, not because they’re afraid, but while awaiting the right time when conditions will again bring them back to the negotiating table,” he said.

Talks between government and the communist rebels were stalled when the National Democratic Front (NDF) demanded for the release of 14 NDF consultants the group claimed were covered by the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG), the demand which the government refused to grant.