MANILA, Philippines — The New People’s Army (NPA) is “at its weakest in its 55-year-history” and has been “strategically defeated” after the security forces of the country announced that the rebel group no longer has active guerrilla fronts nationwide, National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said on Wednesday.
“With its active guerrilla fronts now weakened, the NPA has been strategically defeated,” Malaya revealed in a press conference on the report of National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) executive director Usec. Ernesto Torres Jr. stated that the country only has 14 weakened guerrilla units left for dismantling.
“In fact, the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) admitted itself last month in its announcement of the rectification movement that there have been ‘substantial losses suffered by the NPA in the revolutionary movement as a result of internal errors,'” he added.
However, Malaya disclosed that they are “extremely disappointed and perplexed” with the CPP Central Committee’s anniversary statement released on December 26 last year, calling out its cadres and committees to carry out a third rectification movement to advance its revolutionary armed struggle further.
“Instead, the CPP/NPA/NDF (New People’s Army/National Democratic Front) has reaffirmed its undying allegiance to Joma Sison’s Marxism-Leninism-Maoism application to Philippine conditions and called on the NPA ‘to stir up and spread flames of people’s war,'” he lamented.
Although NSC and NTF-Elcac “remain optimistic” with the recent declaration, Malaya said they could not disregard CPP’s anniversary statement.
“While we support the exploratory talks, its success will entirely depend on the sincerity, truthfulness, and commitment of CPP/NPA/NDF towards achieving a peace settlement and ending armed hostilities,” he said.
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