General Gilbert Gapay, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), on Sunday (Oct. 5) reiterated the need for the military to defeat the New People’s Army (NPA) to end the communist insurgency that has plagued the country for over five decades.
(PHILIPPINE ARMY / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“In order to address the challenges of our campaign against the communist terrorist group, I direct our commanders to focus on the dismantling of the enemy’s so-called guerilla fronts,” Gapay said in a statement.
On Oct. 2, the AFP Chief led the virtual third quarter command conference at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, which was attended by different unit commanders and chiefs of offices nationwide.
He told unit commanders to double their efforts to achieve their targets by the year’s end.
“The AFP has achieved significant gains in our campaigns in the areas of internal security and external defense. I urge everyone to continue to exert utmost effort and dedication in the performance of respective tasks towards the accomplishment of our mandate,” Gapay said.
For the first three quarters of 2020, unit commanders reported the dismantling of eight NPA guerilla fronts across the country: three each in Luzon and Mindanao, and two in Visayas.
Meanwhile, a total of 102 barangays were also cleared of the NPA’s armed and propaganda units.
There were 93 alleged NPA leaders and high-value targets, and 12 finance officers who were also either killed, arrested, or surrendered while 44 firearms, 1,824 anti-personnel mines, and 141 hideouts were seized.
Fifteen military units were awarded by Gapay for their individual accomplishments in the fight against communist insurgency, which has been waged by the NPA for 51 years.
These were the 502nd Infantry Brigade and the 95th Infantry Battalion from Northern Luzon; the 902nd and 903rd Infantry Brigades and 9th and 31st Infantry Battalions from the Bicol Region; 403rd Infantry Brigade and 88th Infantry Battalion from Eastern Mindanao; the 102nd Infantry Brigade and 44th and 10th Infantry Battalions from Western Mindanao; and the 801st and 802nd Infantry Brigades and 46th and 14th Infantry Battalions from Visayas.
President Duterte has a directive to the military to crush the NPA, which he considers as the biggest threat to the country’s security, before he ends his term in 2022.