Armed Forces of the Philippines logo. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — Only one “weakened” New People’s Army (NPA) guerrilla front is left in the country, according to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson. Col. Francel Margareth Padilla.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, Padilla said the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), is no longer capable of “staging major operations.”
“From the start of the year, we started with seven weakened guerilla fronts. Now we’re down to one and we’re well within targets,” she said.
“As they have already been weakened, they are no longer capable of staging major operations. They also have a leadership vacuum and they are not capable of recruiting additional personnel to their ranks,” she added.
A weakened guerrilla front means it can no longer implement its programs like recruitment and generating resources for the armed struggle as opposed to active guerrilla fronts, according to the AFP.
Although the CPP-NPA has weakened, National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict Executive Director Ernesto Torres Jr. earlier explained that AFP troops are still in areas where the presence of armed groups was detected.
Since its founding on March 29, 1969, the NPA has carried out the world’s longest-running Maoist insurgency.
In February, Padilla said it has always been the national government’s goal to end the country’s internal insurgency problem this year and transition to external defense in line with the “Bagong Pilipinas” movement.