CEBU CITY – The Armed Forces-Visayas Command on Saturday, March 2, said it had dealt a major blow to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in the Visayas through a series of operations in the month of February.
FIREARMS and other items were seized in an encounter between government troops and the New People’s Army last February in the Visayas. (Viscom)
Last month, Viscom’s two joint task forces, the Joint Task Force Spear and Joint Task Storm, with the support of its component units, Naval Forces Central of the Philippine Navy and Tactical Operations Wing Central of the Philippine Air Force, recorded 21 armed encounters against members of CPP-NPA throughout the Visayas.
In these encounters, 14 NPA rebels died, 15 surrendered, and one was arrested. Some 47 firearms were also recovered, 34 of which were high-powered.
“Mission is not yet over. We may have achieved significant gains in our campaign last month but there’s still more that needs to be done. Our forces are now focused on preventing the resurgence of the CPP-NPA in the Visayas by neutralizing the few remaining members of the terrorist group,” said Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, commander of Viscom.
Viscom added that three high-value personalities, Rolando Caballera, a member of the NPA Regional Executive Committee in Eastern Visayas; Domingo Compoc, a top NPA leader in Bohol, and Rena Rhea Camariosa, the second deputy secretary of the NPA Southern Panay Front, died in the encounters.
Arevalo cited the support of the community in Viscom’s successful anti-insurgency campaign.
“The success of our campaign in its early stage this year is attributed to the active support of our people, having freed them from the clutches of the terrorist group last year. This is the reason why we cannot stop. We must and we will sustain our gains, for it is through the call of our people to end the CPP-NPA in the region that we strive and will remain committed to our mandate of ending the local communist armed conflict, the soonest the possible time,” said Arevalo.