PNP, AFP to meet anti-insurgency goal

From the Business Mirror (Sep 6, 2021): PNP, AFP to meet anti-insurgency goal (BY RENE ACOSTA)

THE Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines are confident they could still meet President Duterte’s objective of ending the communist insurgency and terrorism, citing the surrender and neutralization of members of different threat groups.

The demise of the New People’s Army (NPA) and the other Mindanao-based threat groups like the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) was spelled out by Duterte at the beginning of his presidency. He has less than a year to achieve it.

Other than accomplishing the goal within Duterte’s term, the military said it is also working hard to end its internal security operations so that it could fully shift its attention to territorial defense, with the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) as the focus where its modernization program is also called.

Police and military officials said there has been a steady stream of surrender by rebels in Northern, Central and Southern Luzon and by members of different terrorist groups in Mindanao, including the ASG and the BIFF in Western and Central Mindanao.

For the past five days, the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) reported that seven rebels and NPA supporters surrendered to the government, yielding eight firearms. The area command said this is aside from 595 former rebels who yielded from January to August 31 this year, turning in a total of 235 firearms.

Nolcom Commander Lt. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo B. Burgos Jr. said among those who recently surrendered were people they accused as being members of the NPA. These people, Burgos said, were from Barangay Amtuagan and Barangay Tubtuba in Tubo, Abra. He said they also surrendered weapons that included Garand rifles, a Carbine rifle and a Springfield rifle.

Burgos said the implementation of several community development projects are helping in convincing rebels and their supporters to return to the government.

“The end of NPA’s reign in Northern and Central Luzon is in sight,” Burgos said. “It’s only a matter of time that the NPAs will be totally eradicated in this part of the country.”

In Southern Luzon, the government has killed a ranking rebel leader and one of his men and the surrender of two others in Irosin, Sorsogon, last Thursday.

PNP Chief General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar said the rebel leader carried a P5-million reward for his capture or death.

Eleazar said the PNP would continue its operations to curb the rebels’ activities in the countryside.

In Maguindanao, four members of the BIFF-Karialan faction yielded, turning over two 7.62mm sniper rifle, a 5.56mm Ultimax sub-machine gun and a cal. 50 Barrett with an empty magazine to Lt. Col. Ferdinand Dela Cruz, commander of 6th Mechanized Battalion.

The four were subsequently presented to Brig. Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team and Ampatuan, Maguindanao Mayor Baileah Sangki.

Last month, a total of 59 BIFF-Karialan faction surrendered to soldiers, with Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of Joint Task Force Central vowing they would assist in the processing of the benefits the former terrorists.

[Rene P. Acosta covers defense, law enforcement and national security for the paper. He had written for a number of publications, including abroad before he joined BusinessMirror. His works had appeared in the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Asia Pacific Defense Forum, both in the US. He took up regional security with the International Visitor Leadership Program, US. He is currently the chairman of the board of the Defense Press Corps of the Philippines which he had headed in 2009.]

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/09/06/pnp-afp-to-meet-anti-insurgency-goal/