Eastern Visayas map. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
ORMOC CITY — A top military officer in Eastern Visayas on Wednesday, April 19, announced that the region’s insurgency problem has weakened.
Of the about 400 rebel-infested barangays in the region, the number has gone down to 20, according to Major Gen. Camilo Ligayo, the commanding general of the 8th Infantry Division.
Ligayo attended the 35th founding anniversary of the 802nd Infantry Brigade, headed by Gen. Noel Vestuir, based in Ormoc on Wednesday.
He also announced that there are about 200 active armed members of the Communist Party of the Philippines in the region, who are mostly operating on Samar Island, particularly in Northern Samar province, considered the last bastion of insurgency in the region.
Ligayo said the 20 villages where members of the New People’s Army dwell are located in Leyte and Samar provinces.
He, however, could not say where exactly these 20 villages are located.
“These villages have been cleared already, but the communist group is trying to recover these barangays. That is why we are conducting our CSP (community support program) in these barangays,” Ligayo said.
The CSP is considered the flagship program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, used to clear communities of NPA while neutralizing the military structure of the communist group in the villages.
Soldiers conduct various services and projects under the CSP with the help of other government agencies.
Ligayo said they are determined to dismantle the remaining two communist guerilla fronts as these serve as a “consolidation” arm of the communist group in influencing or controlling villages to their side.
“We are confident that we can dismantle these guerilla fronts as they consolidate these barangays (under their influence),” he said.
Ligayo stressed that ending the insurgency problem is not just a military-driven solution. He said they need the help of other sectors, including the people in areas with rebels.
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