8ID, NTF-ELCAC units vow to beat 2 remaining NPA fronts in Samar

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 13, 2023): 8ID, NTF-ELCAC units vow to beat 2 remaining NPA fronts in Samar (By Priam Nepomuceno)

(Screengrab from NTF-ELCAC Facebook live video)

MANILA – The Catbalogan, Samar-based 8th Infantry Division (8ID) and local front-liners of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) will be able to eliminate the two remaining New People's Army (NPA) fronts in its area of operation within this year.

“I am confident that we will finally end this armed conflict by the third quarter of this year, or safe to say by the end of the year,” 8th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Camilo Ligayo said during the NTF-ELCAC's weekly forum dubbed “Tagged Reloaded: Debunking The Lies By Telling the Truth” on Monday.

Ligayo said this is possible as the 8th Infantry Division and local units of the NTF-ELCAC are closely working to eliminate the two remaining NPA fronts.

The 8ID operates in Samar and other parts of the Eastern Visayas.

By the end of third quarter, he said one of the active fronts will be downgraded to a “weakened” status.

“Pa-konti na ng pa-konti (They are dwindling),” Ligayo said, defining the remaining two NPA fronts, whom he added has no village to turn to, and choose to go deep into the mountain to escape annihilation from intensified focused military operations.

The 8ID commander also condemned the newest atrocities of communist rebels for killing two construction workers last week in Las Navas town.

On June 3, Rowel Lebico and Hersan Cabe of Barangay Quirino died from an anti-personnel mine attack of the NPA.

He said the civilian victims were workers of a farm-to-market road project being implemented by the government.

Reacting to the NPA violence, Alma Gabin, former education deputy secretary of the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said the remaining NPA units in the region are trying to blocked the government’s efforts of giving farm-to-market roads in far-flung barangays formerly used as the "communist terrorist group" (CTG) lair.

“We call them (the) road to hell,” she recalled, referring to the NPA’s term for farm-to-market road.

Gabin said this is because the NPAs are using lack of roads as a big issue against the government to encourage village residents to join and support them.

He said if the NPA members see roads being constructed in these areas, the insurgents will immediately coerce residents, burn equipment or even kill individuals to stop its constructions.

Gabin also noted that building roads is a “significant leverage” for the government as this will force insurgents to go to the mountains.

Asked about the case of Lebico and Cabe, Commission on Human Rights (CHR)-Eastern Visayas director Desiree Pontejos vowed to take actions against the perpetrators of the killings.

He said their quick reaction team have already investigated the incident and are now in the process of identifying the suspects regardless of being NPA members.

Meanwhile, Ligayo urged all local government units (LGUs) to actively join in the fight to end the reign of terror of the local communist armed conflict.

“We're only running against two remaining active fronts of the NPA in the region and the national government through the NTF-ELCAC is making great strides. To reciprocate this, it is vital to gain the support of local officials and their constituents,” he said.

Ligayo said if residents in far-flung villages would see for themselves how the government is trying to help them, they will turn their backs from supporting or sympathizing with the NPA.

“Mahirap mag-operate kung ang kasama mo ay sumusuporta sa kabila (It is hard to fight when your partner supports the enemy),” he lamented.

Ligayo hinted that some local government officials are sympathetic to the communist movement.

“We just celebrated the 125 years of our independence. Let’s end this together, without traitors,” he said.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1203400