From the Daily Tribune (Jan 19): Reds to thwart Bautista’s objective to crush them
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has vowed to frustrate newly installed Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista’s objective to render its armed-wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), irrelevant when he retires in 2014. “General Bautista cannot stop the momentum of growth of the New People’s Army,” the CPP said in a statement.
Instead, the CPP warned that the NPA will continue to strengthen its rank and lead more attacks. “The NPA continues to grow in number and in terms of firepower and is bound to increase in a more rapid pace in the coming years as the crisis of the ruling system worsens and subjects the mass of workers and peasants and middle class sectors to more intolerable conditions of oppression and exploitation,” said the CPP.
“Over the next few years, the NPA and the people’s militias will be able to initiate more frequent and widespread tactical offensives (on) the front, regional, inter-regional and national levels,” it added. In his assumption speech on Thursday, Bautista vowed to render the insurgents irrelevant before he retires on July 2014, through the military’s internal peace and security plan Bayanihan. However, the CPP vowed to frustrate Bautista.
“The worsening abuses committed by the AFP and its attached paramilitaries under the Oplan Bayanihan war of suppression further incite the Filipino people to wage armed resistance in their effort to advance their struggle for land reform, resist the incursion of foreign mining and plantation operations, fight for better working conditions and higher wages, stand against the demolition of communities and oppose the government’s abandonment of education, health and other public services,” it said.
“As during the time of Marcos, the abuses committed by the reactionary military and police are among the biggest reasons for the initial motivation of people to join the New People’s Army,” the CPP added.
With Bautista, who is credited with being the chief architect of IPSP Bayanihan, the CPP said it expects worsening cases of human-rights abuses accompanied by more publicity gimmicks to cover up such abuses.
http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/nation/item/9337-reds-to-thwart-bautista’s-objective-to-crush-them
CPP leaders must be smoking some strong stuff. The truth of the matter is that NPA strength has steadily declined from its zenith during the Marcos era and that downward trend seems unlikely to change in the near future. NPA offensives are likely to decline as well will probably be limited to several geographic areas and will not pose a serious threat to the stability of the central government in Manila.
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, the Maoist CPP/NPA will continue as it has been for the last several years, a minor but manageable armed threat.
Bottom line is that the Philippine military is nothing like the military organization that existed under Marcos. The AFP has made a committment to uphold human rights and ensure that its soldiers conduct operations in accordance with the established laws of war.
In the meantime, the overall ideological committment and proficiency of the NPA appears to have declined and it will be difficult for the organization to reverse the process unless there are some serious missteps by the Philippine government and military.
While AFP human righs abuses may continue to occur, they will be an abberation and not the norm. And despite efforts by CPP human rights front organizations like Karapatan to portry soldiers as massive HR abusers just like in the Marcos days, that couldn't be further from the truth. There is no comparison between the Marcos military and the AFP today. Despite its faults, the AFP is a much more professional and human rights oriented organization.