Reds claim foothold in 2,000 villages

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Communist guerrillas claimed they continued to operate in at least 2,000 villages in 200 towns in 20 provinces in Mindanao in a statement seeking to refute military reports that mass surrenders of New People’s Army (NPA) members were weakening the rebel movement.

The NPA statement, quoting Joaquin Jacinto, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Mindanao, was issued as the military announced the surrender to the Marines of five NPA members belonging to the Dulangan-Manobo tribe.

The military announcement was timed with the 49th anniversary of NPA on March 29.

Tribesmen

Maj. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division based here, said the surrendered rebels cited many reasons for giving up, among them battle fatigue and frustration at unfulfilled NPA promises.

Dela Vega identified them as Ariel Udas Apang, 29; Iyoy Lebeg Nayam, 31; Nicanor Nayam Apang, 38; Ariel Matog Apang, 36; and Uwi Sulay Kulam, 38.

The surrendered rebels belonged to NPA’s Guerrilla Front 73 and turned over a Carbine rifle, an Uzi machine pistol, a grenade and two improvised explosive devices, Dela Vega said.

Lt. Col. Jose Marie Santos, head of the Marine Battalion Landing Team that took custody of the rebels, said the tribesmen abandoned the NPA because the rebel promise to protect their ancestral domain had not been fulfilled.

Revolutionary government

Jacinto, the NDFP spokesperson in Mindanao, said the surrendered rebels were fake.

He said “despite all-out attacks” by the Duterte administration, “NPA is making headway in 46 guerrilla fronts in Mindanao.”

“In these areas, hundreds of thousands are directly organized, while tens of thousands are covered by the people’s revolutionary government at the barrio level, and a few at municipal levels,” Jacinto said in the statement issued also on March 29 to commemorate the NPA anniversary.

President Rodrigo Duterte had ended peace talks with NDFP and ordered a full-scale war on members of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, NPA. —Edwin Fernandez