‘Weakened’ Reds seeking talks—AFP

From the Manila Standard Today (Jan 3): ‘Weakened’ Reds seeking talks—AFP

THE 46-year-old communist insurgency is steadily dwindling and that may be one of the reasons why the communist National Democratic Front is again seeking to enage the government in peace talks, the military said on Friday.

Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc attributed the supposed decline in member to the military’s Internal Peace and Security Plan “Bayanihan,” which was conceived in 2010 to erode rebel influence through community development projects coupled with security operations.

“We have dealt a big blow against the NPA as their strength decreased to about 3,200 NPA remnants this year.,” Cabunoc told defense reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.

“This is due to the intensified focused military operations that resulted in the neutralization of 90 members who were killed in clashes, 106 who were arrested and filed with cases and 521 others who voluntarily surrendered to government forces,” Cabunoc added.

He said that the reduction in rebel strength is also associated with the current leadership crisis within the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed New People’s Army following the capture of top leaders, like Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, Eugenia Magpantay-Topacio, Agathon Topacio and Arnold Jaramillo.

“They are also considering going back to the negotiating table, which the AFP supports because it is in line with our IPSP ‘Bayanihan’ that calls for winning peace and for the CPP-NPA to abandon the armed struggle,” he added.

But CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison dismissed Cabunoc’s claim.

“If the AFP propaganda is true, the AFP brigades and battalions should go back to the barracks and let the police take over the lucrative rackets of the military in the field,” Sison said in an online interview.

Sison was referring to abusive officials who are supposedly protecting criminal groups, like illegal miners, in the countryside which have spurred ordinary people to seek the help of the NPA.

The military itself has confirmed that some politicians, in connivance with miltiary or police officials,  have become targets of the NPA because of illegal activities, like black-sand mining in Northern Luzon.

“At any rate the military and police are always competing in misappropriating public funds and extorting from the people and private companies,” Sison said.

The communist leader said the CPP itself has shown in the past that it is not averse to admitting mistakes and will not hesitate to apologize to the people so it will not fudge its membership data.

“Ang Bayan, the official publication of the CPP, has announced since a few years ago that the armed strength of the NPA is around 10,000, augmented by tens of thousands of men and women in the people’s militia and hundreds of thousands in self-defense units of the mass organizations,” Sison said.

“The CPP has already about 200,000 cadres and members. It has a mass base that runs into millions. The AFP disinformation claims false achievement that the NPA had 25,000 rifles in mid-1980s and now has only 3,500. The truth is that the NPA had 5,600 rifles in 1985 and now has 10,000 rifles,” he added.

The NPA also scored the miliary for claiming that the NPA reneged on its commitment to release “prisoners of war” in Surigao del Norte when it was actually the fault of the military who continued military operations although they publicly announced a suspension of military operations.

“I am apologizing to the families of the policemen that they were not released as expected. This is because the military and police have been violating the government’s declared ceasefire,” said top communist leader Jorge Madlos.

The NPA, however, said they will release policemen Democrito Bondoc Polvorosa, Marichel Unclara Contemplo and Junrie Amper before the Jan. 15 visit of Pope Francis.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/01/03/-weakened-reds-seeking-talks-afp/