ILOILO CITY – Brig. Gen. Michael Samson, the new chief of the 3rd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, said Western and Central Visayas are inching closer to becoming free from the New People’s Army (NPA).
SAMSON (Tara Yap)
“But before we could finally declare Western Visayas and Central Visayas as communist insurgency-free, we have to first deal with the remnants of a group of isolated armed rebels who survive by hiding and evading out pursuing government troops,” said Samson after taking command of the 3rd ID after the retirement of Major Gen. Marion Sison.
Samson, during his tenure as commander of the 301st Infantry Brigade in Panay Island, dismantled the
Southern Front Committee in Panay Island operating in the southern portion of Iloilo province and Antique.
His leadership at the 301st IB also toppled the NPA Central Front Committee in Capiz, Aklan, and Iloilo.
With a bigger scope as 3rd ID commander, Samson said it is crucial to continue the gains against the NPA in other parts of the two regions such as Negros Island, Cebu, and Bohol.
Samson said that their combat operations against the NPA is not to kill.
“We want to pressure them to give up the armed struggle and make them realize that fighting the government is useless and futile. We want them to go back to mainstream society as productive citizens of this country,” Samson said.