Army chief cites task force ELCAC as best tool vs. NPA

From the Philippine News Agency (May 4, 2022): Army chief cites task force ELCAC as best tool vs. NPA (By Sarwell Meniano)

FIGHTING INSURGENCY. Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. (left) and Army 8th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Edgardo de Leon check firearms recently seized in Leyte and Samar provinces during a display at the Army headquarters in Catbalogan City, Samar on Tuesday (May 3, 2022). Brawner said the gains in the fight against insurgency are the results of the "whole-of-nation" approach. (PNA photo by Sarwell Meniano)

Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the institutionalization of the "whole-of-nation" approach is the “best thing that ever happened” in the fight against the New People’s Army (NPA) during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

During a visit to the Army’s 8th Infantry Division here Tuesday afternoon, Brawner commended soldiers for working with government agencies and communities to solve the decades-old insurgency.

“The best thing that ever happened to our counterinsurgency is the implementation of the Executive Order (EO) No. 70, which gave birth to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). All government agencies and the private have been working together to help end insurgency,” Brawner told reporters.

The directive also institutionalizes a “whole-of-nation approach” to attaining an inclusive and sustainable peace.

The official made the remarks after inspecting hundreds of firearms and anti-personnel mines seized by the Philippine Army units in Eastern Visayas between 2021 to early 2022 through information provided by former rebels formed into a group of peace advocates.

In Eastern Visayas alone, at least 1,505 regular NPA members surrendered to the government from 2019 to March 2022, indicating that the communist terrorist group is weakening, according to the military.

Of the number, 57 of them yielded in 2019 and 415 turned themselves in a year after.

Most of them or 1,007 surrendered in 2021 while 26 fighters abandoned the NPA just this year.

The weakening of NPA in Eastern Visayas is a result of a "whole-of-nation" approach by linking arms between basic service providers from the central government, community participation from the local governments, and the security sector from the military and police.

In support of the fight against NPA, several local government units have formed their local task force ELCAC.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1173610