No let-up in focused military operations vs. NPA

From the Visayan Daily Star (Feb 2, 2023): No let-up in focused military operations vs. NPA (By GILBERT P. BAYORAN)

As the New People’s Army in the Visayas region, including Negros Island, continues to weaken, Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, commander of the AFP Visayas Command, has vowed no let-up in focused military operations, coupled with the implementation of community support programs, to prevent the NPA from ever gaining footing in any areas of the region.

Of the nine NPA guerilla fronts in Visayas, four were already dismantled, including two in Negros, namely the Northern Negros and South East Fronts, Eastern Front of Komiteng Rehiyonal Panay and the Bohol guerilla front, Arevalo said.

He also described the three remaining guerilla fronts in Negros Island as “weakened.”

However, Arevalo, who supervises the two Army infantry divisions, Philippine Air Force and Nay assets in Visayas, said that they are now focusing their efforts in Samar, where the communist terrorist group appears to be stronger.

For the month of January this year, VISCOM records show that a total of 18 NPA rebels have been neutralized, with two killed in encounters, three others arrested, 14 surrendered, and 93 former rebel supporters also withdrawing their allegiance to the CPP NPA.

Over the same period, 35 assorted guns were recovered, the report added.

Despite the weakening of three guerilla fronts in Negros Island, Arevalo, who installed on Col. Orlando Edralin as the new commander of 303rd Infantry Brigade in Negros Occidental, said “we should not be complacent.”

While we call them as “weakened,” apparently referring to the remaining NPA guerilla fronts, Arevalo said it does not mean that they cannot commit violence against our troops and the people.

We should step up our operations against them, and see to it that they will be weakened some more, and preventing them from conducting more atrocities, he added.

Arevalo also reported that “the active partnership and collaboration of the different stakeholders under the Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict” also gained ground with several community development projects completed and hundreds more being implemented, paving the way for the people in the former NPA-infested barangays to actively support and pledge their allegiance to the government.

Military records further showed that 127 community development projects under the Barangay Development Program (BDP) of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) were completed last year, of which 71 are infrastructure projects, while 56 are non-infrastructure projects.

This is on top of 244 community development projects under the BDP that are currently being implemented.

https://visayandailystar.com/no-let-up-in-focused-military-operations-vs-npa/