By Junex Doronio
MANILA — With the apparent decline of the Maoist movement after the death of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Ma. Sison in The Netherlands, the National Security Council (NSC) has expressed confidence that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will be able to dismantle the 11 remaining weakened NPA guerilla fronts by the end of the year.
NSC spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said with this objective, military operations were ongoing in Abra, Northern Samar, the Bicol Region, and other areas.
“These operations are initiated by the military to totally wipe them out and we will see more of these in the coming months, rain or shine,” Malaya said.
National Security Adviser Secretary Eduardo Año said in a statement on Friday (5 April 2024) that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is now in transition, from an internal to an external mode of defense.
“Particularly, ang ating goal is to dismantle the 11 weakened guerilla fronts up to the end of the year and this will also include dismantling 26 vertical units and party organs within the 27 sub-regional committees and 40 regional party committees,” Año said.
For his part, AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. said the military had set deadlines for its ground units, and there were armed encounters almost daily.
“Halos everyday ay nagkakaroon po tayo ng mga armed encounters – not just between the AFP and the members of the NPA but also with the local terrorist groups. So, we launched expansive and intensive military operations against all of these threat groups,” Brawner said.
He added: “And once the AFP successfully ends the communist insurgency, it can consolidate all its forces to solely external defense.”
(el Amigo/MNM)