THE Armed Forces is beefing up forces in the eastern Mindanao area as part of renewed offensives against the communist New People’s Army which President Duterte has classified as a terrorist organization.
Maj. Ezra Balagtey, spokesman of the AFP’s Eastern Mindanao Command, said four battalions have been sent to the area in the past weeks as augmentation force, including the newly-activated 88th and 89th Infantry Battalions.
Balagtey said the Army’s elite 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion and the 15th Infantry Battalion have also been recently re-assigned to eastern Mindanao, from the western Mindanao area.
Balagtey said the 15th IB came from Basilan where it was involved in the fight against the Abu Sayyaf Group while the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion is fresh from Marawi City where they fought with the terrorist Maute Group.
The area of responsibility of Eastmincom covers the entire Caraga and Davao regions and parts of Northern Mindanao and Soccsksargen regions. The Eastmincom is under the command of Lt. Gen. Benjamin Madrigal.
“We are expecting more troops to arrive here as announced by the chief of staff (Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero),” said Balagtey. He did not say how many troops are currently operating under Eastmincom.
Balagtey said there about 2,000 NPA rebels in the Eastmincom’s area of responsibility, or around 45 percent of the entire NPA strength throughout the country.
“This is a priority area of the AFP as far as NPA terrorist is concerned,” said Balagtey of the areas of responsibility of the Eastmincom. “The last frontier of the NPA is eastern Mindanao,” he added.
Caraga includes Agusan del Norte and del Sur, Surigao del Norte and del Sur and Dinagat Islands while the Davao region covers Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte and del Sur, Davao Occidental and Oriental, and several cities.
President Duterte last month formally terminated peace talks with the communist movement amid series of NPA attacks on military and civilian targets. Last week, he officially declared the Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA, the CPP’s armed wing, as terrorist groups.
`ONE-STRIKE POLICY’
PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa yesterday reiterated that police chiefs will be relieved from their posts if police stations under their area of responsibility are overrun by the NPA.
“We have a one-strike policy. The provincial director will be relieved if there are two police stations overrun, that’s automatic. A regional police director will also be relieved if two provincial police stations are overrun by the NPAs,” Dela Rosa said.
He said the relieved officials will be investigated as to why the communist rebels were able to carry out their attacks with ease.
Dela Rosa issued the one-strike policy when he was appointed PNP chief in July last year. Other PNP chiefs had similar policies but imposed a three-strike policy.
Dela Rosa also said he has ordered ground troops to reinforce their counterparts in the military in places where soldiers are thinly deployed like, in Iloilo and Cagayan Valley.
http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/military-beefs-forces-eastern-mindanao
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