The military sees the eventual demise of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) with the waning strength of the rebel group and the arrest of its top leaders.
Brig. Gen. Joselito Kakilala, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, noted that the rebel group’s strength had dwindled to fewer than 4,000 fighters.
“Their capability has been degraded, as well as their influence on the mass bases … that’s their eventual demise,” he said.
Kakilala issued a statement yesterday on the NPA’s 46th anniversary during which the military raised a red alert.
Impending development in marginalized communities will eventually lead to the rebel group’s downfall, he said.
“We will have economic growth and prosperity for every Filipino in the years to come, and the NPA and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) will be irrelevant,” he added.
Critical infrastructure
Kakilala said the AFP under Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. was assisting in the identification of needed critical infrastructure projects such as bridges, farm-to-market roads and schools.
He said these were being translated to tangible programs which were being implemented, resulting in a “drastic decline” in insurgency-related activity.
The military can also easily hit the rebels in the mountains without much collateral damage among civilian communities because the troops are intensifying their training skills, the official said.
“This is evident in the East Mindanao Command area where we had several encounters and recovered batches of firearms. This is the AFP’s strategy, especially in that focused area. We are isolating the NPA from the communities, particularly the lumad,” Kakilala said.
But the official did not say how many years it would take for the NPA’s total downfall.
Kakilala said it was possible that the NPA would go to the negotiating table as “an alternative strategy to be relevant.”
“That’s one of our objectives, to have peace talks with the CPP, NPA and National Democratic Front so they will abandon the armed struggle, so we’ll achieve our objectives and goals,” he said.
He expressed optimism the next administration will pursue this with the communist group.
“But if they won’t talk peace, they will really be irrelevant because development will come in complemented by our efforts. There are no longer any issues being raised by the people and they are running out of cadres,” Kakilala added.