TACLOBAN CITY – At least 1,505 regular members of the New People’s Army (NPA) surrendered to the government as of the end of March 2022, a clear indication the communist terrorist group is weakening, an official of the National Intelligence Coordination Agency (NICA) said on Wednesday.
Of the number, 57 of them yielded in 2019 and 415 turned themselves in a year after. Most of them or 1,007 surrendered in 2021 while 26 fighters abandoned the NPA just this year.NICA Eastern Visayas Regional Director Eustacio Bacabac said many regular NPA members have surrendered through the government’s whole-of-nation approach in the past three years.
“They have been weakening since 2019. Many of them surrendered after they realized that it is a senseless struggle. Others also abandoned the NPA through persuasions by those who already surrendered,” Bacabac said.
The reduced influence of their organization in other parts of the country forced NPA leaders to move to Samar, which they considered their “last bastion”.
NICA also reported that 70 members of the terrorist group were killed in clashes with government forces while 54 were captured in operations in more than two years.
“In the last three months, two key NPA central committee personalities were captured in Samar and Northern Samar. The government learned about their presence through information from former NPA members. They have been hiding in Samar because they thought that they are safe here, but they are wrong since the environment is already different,” Bacabac added.
Likewise, some 6,222 mass supporters abandoned the communist ideology while 539 members of Batakang Organisasyon sa Partido (BOP) left the communist terrorist group.
BOP members are used by the NPA in intelligence-gathering activities.
The weakening of NPA in Eastern Visayas is a result of a whole-of-nation approach by linking arms between basic service providers from the central government, community participation groups from the local governments, and the security sector from the military and police.
In support of the fight against NPA, several local government units have formed their task force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) operationalizing Executive Order 70 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte on Dec. 4, 2018.
The directive also institutionalizes a “whole-of-nation approach” to attaining an inclusive and sustainable peace.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA, which has been waging a five-decade armed struggle against the government is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The Anti-Terrorism Council also formally designated the National Democratic Front (NDF) as a terrorist organization on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA that was created in April 1973. ###
(Reposted article from PNA)
