Despite a series of New People's Army (NPA) attacks against innocent civilians and unarmed government forces, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Friday expressed confidence that it is winning the battle against insurgency thanks to its Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) "Bayanihan".
The military made this statement after noting a 40 percent increase in AFP-initiated engagements against the armed rebels from fourth quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.
Since January up to March this year, the AFP recorded 96 focus-military operations against the NPA which only conducted 46, according to military public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala.
To further prove IPSP’s competency, more and more NPAs are returning to the government fold. Records show 189 rebels have surrendered since January 1 including the 54 NPAs who gave in last June 23 in
Recent incidents on the other hand, show that the NPAs continue to attack soft targets which manifest the NPA’s projection that they are still a force to reckon with despite the fact that they are losing their mass base support and their strength continuously dwindling.
This Friday morning, an undetermined number of NPAs ambushed a group of unarmed police trainees while on a morning road run in Cabunagan, Poblacion in Tadian,
Zagala said those police personnel were unarmed and had no capacity to engage the rebels in an armed confrontation. As a result, one personnel was killed and nine were wounded.
This violent act is an utter disrespect not only to the police who maintains peace in our communities but also to the people who benefit from the services provided by our law enforcers.
Not more than two weeks ago, the NPAs abducted five soldiers in Purok Lubas, Barangay Poblacion of Paquibatao district in
"The AFP strongly condemns these recent attacks against unarmed law enforcers. Just like the police, the soldiers are here to uphold peace, and by targeting them, the NPAs are depriving our people of the opportunities a stable and peaceful environment can offer," Zagala stressed.
However, these attacks should not hamper AFP’s ongoing peace and development programs which seek to address the root causes of insurgency. It only challenges the military to do better and further improve its ways to achieve the goal of a just and lasting peace for our country, he added.
"It is high time that the NPAs put a stop to these senseless and criminal acts which only puts innocent lives in danger," Zagala concluded.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=539023
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