AFP claims NPA ‘suffered huge losses’ in July

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The New People’s Army “suffered huge losses” in July with 94 rebels arrested and killed, the military claimed.

At the same time, the Armed Forces of the Philippines also incurred losses in July, with six soldiers killed and 23 wounded in armed engagements with the NPA, military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala said Thursday.

Of the 94 insurgents, 29 were killed, 12 were captured and 53 surrendered to the government fold.

Leading the captured NPA is Loida Magpatoc, a regional committee secretary in Davao City, who is on the Philippine National Police wanted list.

The encounter in Juban, Sorsogon, left eight NPA dead, including Frankie Soriano, known as Greg Banares, a spokesperson in Bicol region.

Also on Tuesday, six rebels were killed in a clash with military in Camiling, Tarlac.

Despite these developments in its tactical operations, the AFP maintains that the focus of IPSP Bayanihan is on the normalization of insurgency-influenced areas. The AFP is not just into statistics, but more so for the improvement of peace and security situation in the provinces.

The Internal Peace and Security Plan Bayanihan is the anti-strategy insurgency of the military.

The AFP is facing the challenge of defeating insurgency as figures of NPA remained at about 4,000 since the implementation of IPSP in 2010.