The national government promised to defeat the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), within the term of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) even with the resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte as one of its vice-chairpersons.
National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo Año made the commitment as he underscored the importance of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the government’s anti-Red unit.
“The NTF-ELCAC continues to achieve significant and laudable milestones from the very beginning. Under the Marcos administration, we will carry on with these achievements and we will make sure that during his administration, we will be able to completely crush these peace-spoilers,” Año, who also serves as the concurrent NTF-ELCAC vice chairman, said in a statement on Saturday, July 13.
NTF-ELCAC, created by Executive Order No. 70 in 2018, is chaired by President Marcos while Vice President Sara Duterte serves as a co-vice chair of Año.
However, Duterte resigned from her post last month as the Education Secretary and as co-vice chairperson of the NTF-ELCAC. It will take effect on July 19.
Still, Año said the NTF-ELCAC has made gains in the government’s anti-communist campaign in the past months, with Duterte helping in preventing the alleged recruitment of schoolchildren into communist groups.
In its report, the NTF-ELCAC's Peace, Law Enforcement, and Development Support (PLEDS) Cluster revealed that the NPA strength is down to 1,251 fighters nationwide.
Año said that after more than five years of aggressive implementation of its multi-pronged political and socio-economic programs and strategies, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has been successful in destroying the politico-military component of all the 89 active NPA guerrilla fronts since 2018.
"Notably, in the last two quarters, four CTG (communist terrorist group) units have been dismantled. We're also on the verge of completely dismantling the remaining seven weakened guerilla fronts (GFs). We expect that the remaining GFs will be dismantled within the year or the next," he added.
Since EO70 was established, a total of 44,528 CTG personalities have surrendered to the government, according to the NTF-ELCAC.
The figure includes the neutralization of 37 “key leaders” this semester alone, Año said.
Meanwhile, a total of 7,587 firearms of different high and low calibers were surrendered to the government.
"I am beyond proud and grateful to witness how our collective visions – once seemingly insurmountable - are little by little realized, especially seeing the much sought transformations now happening among our fellow citizens and their communities," Año said.