AFP gets ready to declare Sorsogon insurgency under ‘manageable' level

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 11): AFP gets ready to declare Sorsogon insurgency under ‘manageable' level

The New People’s Army (NPA) in Sorsogon province is no longer capable of mounting large-scale operations — a local insurgency situation that is leading government peacekeepers into declaring the province as already a “conflict-manageable and ready for further development (CMRFD)” area.

The 31st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (PA) has said that each rebel unit presently operating within the so-called “guerrilla zones” in the province has dwindled to only a handful of demoralized combatants not capable of major anti-government operations.

This PA contingent, now under the command of Lt. Col. Beerjenson Aquino, is assigned to the internal security of the province by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) from the threats of NPA uprising which since 45 years ago until lately had destabilized the local peace and order situation.

Aquino said the weakening and demoralization of the NPA Sorsogon units were rendered by the massive military operations that resulted in the recent clearing of the remaining 13 barangays that served as the rebels’ last stand and the fall to the hands of lawmen of their two most prominent leaders—Andres Hubilla and Felix Marcayda Jr.

Hubilla, alias Magno, the former secretary of NPA’s provincial committee, was arrested by joint police and military elements in Cavite last Nov. 25, said Aquino who also identified this rebel commander as a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF) Bicol Regional Party Committee (BRPC).

He was arrested by virtue of warrants of arrest issued by the Sorsogon Regional Trial Court (RTC) for murder and attempted murder.

Also last November, Marcayda alias Migz, who is a BRPC executive committee member and secretary of Larangan 3, Komite Probinsyal Sorsogon, was arrested by the police and military intelligence operatives in Donsol town based on a warrant of arrest for murder.

No bails were recommended by the court for the temporary liberty of the two ranking NPA Sorsogon leaders.

Aquino said that while there had been some incidents of harassment initiated recently by armed men believed to be NPA rebels against military installations in the province, those were just minor operations intended to show their presence in efforts to collect from candidates in the 2016 general elections “permit-to-campaign and permit-to-win” fees.

The PA commander said the AFP, since late last month, had been preparing for the declaration of Sorsogon as the fifth of Bicol’s six provinces under the CMRFD area tentatively slated on the middle of this month.

Various indicators are being considered in placing the province under this declaration and the most significant were the dramatic decreases in number of barangays affected or influenced by the NPA, actual number of armed insurgents and insurgency-related crime volume, Aquino said.

Earlier declared under CMRFD in Bicol one after the other starting late last year until recently were the provinces of Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Albay following the forging of separate Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the respective provincial governments and the AFP.

Each MOU formalized the declaration of a particular province as CMRD area as recommended by the provincial government through a resolution passed by its local legislative board.

The signing of each MOU, according to the AFP, signaled the "shifting of effort" from clearing of barangays of insurgent affectation supported by socio-economic development to a reverse role.

It also emphasizes the implementation of more socio-economic and development projects that the civil government will implement with the continuous support and protection of the military.

The declarations of peace in these provinces were based on the decreased violent activities of the NPA, the reduction of its potential support system in the barangays and its failed recovery efforts.

The 45-year-old insurgency being waged by the NPA, the armed wing of the CPP-NDF, the AFP said, has been preventing the progress and economic development of all affected localities in Bicol and in the country.

These MOUs brings great pleasure for it is a proof that the efforts of the government and its armed forces to restore peace and tranquility in the provinces have not been put in vain as the military stands by its mandate as the protector of the people and keepers of the integrity of the state, it stressed.

In a statement over this new development, Brig. Gen. Ferdinand Quidilla, commanding general of the PA’s 9th Infantry (Spear) Division (ID) based in Pili, Camarines Sur, said at least Sorsogon is now on its way to development minus the NPA preventing the implementation of government infrastructure projects.

This PA’s 9th ID is in command of three infantry brigades composed of eight infantry battalions and seven support units, including an engineering battalion distributed in all the six provinces of the region.

Bicol’s opportunity to advance to progress with its vast mineral deposits, agricultural lands, rich fishing grounds, exotic tourist destinations, rich natural resources and hard-working people has been stalled by unstable peace situation due to the presence of the NPAs and the culture of violence it has developed among local communities, Quidilla said.

These rebels harass mining companies, extort money in the form of “revolutionary taxes” from businessmen, contractors and even from farmers, and execute those who refuse to remit -- including innocent civilians and civilian government officials, he said.

The decision to declare Sorsogon under CMRD is based on the recommendation of the Area Clearing Validation Board (ACVB) from the 9th ID and the PNP regional office which recently validated reports on the clearing of 13 rebel-affected barangays of the five municipalities of the province.

It is impressing that the security sector has been able to achieve significant gains in addressing the threat situation in the province of Sorsogon, obviously resulting from concerted efforts of different stakeholders in addressing social problems, Quidilla said.

Bicol is now on its way towards becoming a region of peace, progress and prosperity with only the island of Masbate as only the province that is classified as highly infested by the NPA, he added.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=837191