AFP vows to dismantle remaining communist guerrilla fronts before year-end

National Security Council assistant director general Jonathan Malaya. File photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines vowed to dismantle all of the remaining guerrilla fronts of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) before the end of 2023, an official said on Friday.

National Security Council assistant director general Jonathan Malaya said this is the commitment of AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Andres Centino before the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s (NTF-Elcac) meeting on May 10.

Malaya said 75 percent of all NPA guerrilla fronts have been dismantled, with only 22 out of the original 89 fronts still existing.

Of the 22 left, 20 are weakened, while two guerrilla fronts — both located in Samar — maintain a strong presence.

These two guerrilla fronts are now the subject of focused military operations, Centino has said.

READ: Sara Duterte wants end to communist insurgency during Marcos admin – exec

Former Philippine National Police chief and now Senator Ronald Dela Rosa said that every NPA guerrilla front should have at least three platoons with 100 armed men.

“We are hoping that with this focused military operations, and of course, laging kasama diyan ang development programs ng gobyerno, ay matatapos po ng Armed Forces of the Philippines ang lahat ng guerrilla fronts sa ating bansa before the end of the year,” Malaya said in a public briefing.

(We are hoping that with these focused military operations, and of course, along with the development programs of the government, the Armed Forces of the Philippines would dismantle all of the remaining guerilla fronts in the country before the end of the year.)

READ: NTF-Elcac switches from ‘aggressive’ strategy to become ‘bringers of peace’

“So umaasa po tayo na (we are hoping that) we are able to achieve that objective based on the assurance given to us by the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” he added.

In view of this goal, Centino said they redeployed forces from Mindanao to Samar.

READ: AFP redeploys Mindanao-based troops to known NPA hotbed Samar, Panay

“Ang sabi pa nga po ni AFP chief of staff Centino, these are now the focus of focused military operations. Dahil po sa magandang sitwasyon ng peace and order sa Mindanao, nagre-deploy po tayo ng mga tropa mula sa Mindanao at naka-assign na po ngayon sa Samar,” Malaya said.

(AFP chief of staff Centino said these are now the focus of focused military operations, and because of the good peace and order situation in Mindanao, our troops from Mindanao have been redeployed to Samar.)

Established on March 29, 1969, the NPA has currently around 2,112 forces with 1,800 weapons in its arsenal, according to latest military estimates.

At its height, it had 25,000 members in 1987, according to Philippine military estimates.

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JPV