Recovered NPA arms cache weakens communist group

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 19, 2021): Recovered NPA arms cache weakens communist group (By Edwin Fernandez)

RECOVERED. Soldiers of the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion in Makilala, North Cotabato prepare the firearms seized from communist rebels for presentation to the media. The guns, seized during the series of military operations between Nov. 11 and 16, belonged to the New People's Army unit under the Far South Mindanao Region. (Photo courtesy of 39IB)

A ranking communist guerrilla who surrendered to the military in Makilala, North Cotabato has admitted that their group has lost its appeal to the masses.

A certain alias “Allan," 51, a New Peoples’ Army (NPA) combatant, surrendered to the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion (IB) in Makilala town at 6 a.m. on Friday.

He told military officials that the loss of the NPA mass base supporters and the loss of firearms forced him to surrender.

“His surrender was preceded by the discovery of the 39IB and the 73IB of the largest arms cache of communist rebels in Sitio Bagyang, Barangay Upper Suyan, Malapatan, Sarangani from a series of operations between November 11 to 16,” the 39IB said in a statement.

Allan admitted that the firearms that were recovered by the military has weakened his unit.

A resident of Barangay Palegi, Padada, Davao del Sur, Allan was a ranking leader of the NPA's Region Sentro De Grabedad (RSDG) - Far South Mindanao Region.

The arms cache, numbering a total of 30 high-powered firearms, included a .30-caliber machinegun, 17 M-16 rifles, seven AK-47 rifles, four M14 rifles, an M203 grenade launcher, ammunition, and rifle parts.

When Allan surrendered to Lt. Col. Ezra Balagtey, the 39th IB commander, he also turned over a Bushmaster M16 rifle with bullets.

Allan said the firearms recovered by the Army were to reclaim “lost grounds” of the NPA in Far South Mindanao.

Balagtey said a certain Borjac, secretary of the NPA Guerilla Front Mt. Alip, monitored in the quad-border of Davao Del Sur-North Cotabato-South Cotabato-Sultan Kudarat has also surrendered to the 39IB on November 9.

Borjac told Army officials that the lack of space for maneuver due to aggressive government intervention led to the dismantling of an NPA unit in and around Mt. Alip that straddles through four adjoining provinces.

He also admitted that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) program of the government made life difficult for communist rebels because the people no longer welcome them in their communities.

Balagtey expressed hope that these accomplishments will bring durable peace to southern Mindanao.

"This significant accomplishment clearly manifests the weakening of the FSMR’s goal and aim to spread conflict and division in the provinces of Davao del Sur, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato to include Sarangani and Davao Occidental," he said.

The two former combatants are currently undergoing tactical interrogation at the 39IB base in Makilala.

The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The National Democratic Front, meanwhile, has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and separate part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1160279