Army official: No NPA resurgence in Bohol

From the Philippine News Agency (May 8): Army official: No NPA resurgence in Bohol

DUMAGUETE CITY -- The 302nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army in Bohol on Monday assured there was no resurgence of the New People’s Army (NPA) in that Central Visayas province.

The NPA do not have the capability to regain Bohol because its people have already been educated about the ills of the insurgency and they do not want the NPA there, said Capt. Jojo Mascariñas, Civil-Military Operations (CMO) Officer of the brigade, in an interview.

He also guaranteed there were no terror links between NPA and the Abu Sayyaf group. The NPA has a different ideology from that of the ASG, the latter of which is inclined towards the “jihad”, Capt. Mascariñas said.

“There are no movements, no armed insurgents”, he added

The Army official said these progressive groups, continue to hold rallies and other mass actions to protest the same or similar issues they had against the government in the previous years.

However, it is “confusing" that while these groups rally against poverty and other social issues affecting the people, their inclination is towards supporting President Rodrigo Duterte, he said.

As early as 2006, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police had already “cleared” Bohol of the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front, the Army official said.

But it was only on February 11, 2010 that the province of Bohol was declared insurgency-free, he added.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php/articles/985846