General Andres Centino, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), met in flesh the leaders of a New People's Army (NPA) unit that was dismantled by the troops in Davao (Region 11).
During his visit to Camp General Manuel Yan Sr. in Mawab, Davao De Oro on Saturday, April 23, Centino was introduced by the 10th Infantry Division (10ID) leadership to Maximo Catarata alias Datu Makatindog, and his son, Renard Catarata alias SM, the pinpointed commanders of the NPA Guerilla Front 3 (GF3) under the Southern Mindanao Region Committee (SMRC).
The father and son duo surrendered to the military last month after following other NPA units who had also yielded to authorities in the previous weeks.
The military said that Maximo joined the NPA in the 1980s but quit four decades later after the relentless offensives of the military.
Centino said he was pleased with the efforts of the troops in Davao to eradicate communist insurgency in the region.
"There’s no debate, all of us right now are doing our best. Lahat tayo ay (All of us are) producing results from 1st ID to 11th ID," Centino said.
"It is because very clear ang ating mission at very clear ang ating task dahil ngayon naka focus na tayo sa ating trabaho, very different from what we experienced in the past (It is because our mission and task are very ear because we are focused now with our job)," he added.
Maj. Gen. Nolasco Mempin, 10ID commander, said that 14 out of the 17 NPA guerilla fronts in the region have already been dismantled by the military since 2016.
Meanwhile, three out of six vertical NPA units and three out of five sub-regional committees (SRCs) have also been pulverized by the military in the same period.
Centino urged the troops to finally end the five-decade-long insurgency problem in the country since the momentum was supposedly on the government forces' side.
"Tapusin natin ito (Let's end this once and for all)," Centino said.
President Duterte has ordered the military and police to end the communist insurgency in the country before he steps down from office in June 2022.