No amount of killings, fighting can end insurgency – Robredo

Vice President Leni Robredo

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — In order to address the decades-old problem of insurgency, Vice President Leni Robredo has stressed the need to tackle some core issues between the government and the communist rebels.

According to Robredo, no amount of killings and fighting can end insurgency if the roots of the problem are not treated.

“I have been very consistent in my stand that insurgency cannot be resolved with a purely military solution. And the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] agrees with us,” Robredo said at a press conference during her visit to Iloilo City on Friday.

“The insurgency can only be eradicated if the core issues are addressed. Once the core issues are addressed, then the peripheral issues should also be addressed,” she added.

Robredo made the statement following last week’s military operation against members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Miag-ao town in Iloilo, which left at least nine rebels dead.

The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) said that the ninth fatality on Dec. 1 was Joven “Lex” Ceralvo, allegedly a high-ranking NPA commander in Iloilo.

Ceralvo was allegedly the 2nd Deputy Secretary of the Komiteng Rehiyon-Panay Southern Front and commanding officer of the Front Operational Command Komiteng Rehiyon-Panay.

The remains of seven rebels were earlier brought to the town proper of Miag-ao from the scene of the operation in the hinterland village of Alimodias. Only body parts were recovered from the eighth fatality.

Government troops backed by artillery fire launched the operation against the rebels who were allegedly planning to launch attacks. Philippine Air Force planes also dropped bombs at the a rebel camp in the hinterland village.

The 3ID said about 70 rebels were in the area planning for a major attack.

A firefight erupted for several hours with government troops aided by artillery fire.

Government troops recovered three M-16 rifles, an AK-47 rifle, four antipersonnel landmines, three detonators, a projector, and rebel documents.

“We are determined to employ all of our military assets to wipe the [NPA] out from the communities. With the people on our side, we are committed to persistently pressing the communist-terrorists on the brink of downfall to end their decades-long cruelty finally,” Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, commander of th 3ID, said in a statement.

Capt. Kim Lapitong of the public affairs office of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division appealed to communist rebels in the country to surrender and return to the folds of the law.

He said those who decide to surrender were assured of government support to live a normal life again.

“The NPA’s opponent is the Armed Forces of the Philippines. We do have the equipment and personnel. There’s no way the NPA can defeat us,” he told the Inquirer over the phone.

“If they won’t surrender, they will end up either in jail or in the cemetery,” he added.

Lapitong said there was no letup in the campaign against insurgency.

“Both combat and civil-military operations will continue,” he said.

—WITH A REPORT FROM ADOR VINCENT MAYOL