Sunday, January 07, 2007 Victory v. threat groups is at hand, military chief
ARMED Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on Saturday said the military in on track to destroying the internal security threats like the New People’s Army (NPA) and the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).
“I am announcing that we are winning, we are on track and will continue to win,” Esperon told a press briefing after a command conference with top commanders, principally to assess the military’s performance against the enemies of the state last year.
Esperon reported that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was able to effect the neutralization of 850 communist rebels last year, mostly in combat operations, bringing down the NPA’s current strength to just about 7,100; and recovery of 556 firearms.
“On the clearing of affected barangays, at the end of 2002 there were 2,510 affected barangays. Today, the end of 2006, the affected barangays number to only 2,121 for 2006,” Esperon said.
Esperon said military operations have caused the reduction of 11 of the communist guerilla fronts through the merging of 12 guerilla fronts into six while three guerilla fronts were downgraded and two were dissolved.
“With these accomplishments, the Armed Forces remains to be in the upper hand, this is attributed to tactical innovations and complementary efforts of the PNP. Our efforts have caused the continuous and irreversible decline of their capability,” said Esperon.
Esperon said the NPA has at least 100 guerilla fronts, 50 of which are reportedly active.
On the Abu Sayyaf, Esperon said at least 99 incidents have been recorded against the terrorist group, 49 were which were military-instigated that resulted in the neutralization of 81 Abu Sayyaf members and the recovery of eight firearms. He said the ASG’s current strength is 452.
“In most parameters we have gained advantage against the Abu Sayyaf. The AFP has continued to have kept them on the run and have prevented them from escalating or carrying out their planned terror attacks,” said Esperon.
“AFP efforts will continue to be intensified to completely decimate the Abu Sayyaf Group. The will be no let-up on our efforts against the Abu Sayyaf Group and their cohorts,” added Esperon.
On the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Esperon said Central Mindanao - the rebel movement’s stronghold - has turned peaceful with the signing of a ceasefire agreement with the group back in 2003.
The MILF and the government are negotiating for a final peace accord for the past years already. However, formal peace negotiations hit the impasse last August on the issue ancestral domain.
“With the agreement of cessation of hostilities reached in 2003 with the MILF, there has been relative peace in central Mindanao as the MILF continues to adhere to the primacy of the peace process,” said Esperon.
“Likewise, the Armed Forces then will continue its all-out support to the ongoing peace process and shall continue to adhere to the primacy of the peace process,” said Esperon.
Esperon said the AFP is adopting measures to maintain “the momentum of its successes,” including the close coordination with local government executives to “prevent the enemy’s expansion and resurgence and its recovery efforts.”
The strategy also includes the intensification of the AFP triad operations, “meaning combat operations, intelligence and civilian-military operations (CMO) against all threat groups.”
Asked if the military is confident of defeating the NPA by 2010, Esperon said: “As I said, we are winning, we are on track and we are confident that we will continue to win. They now stand at 7,000, our target is to reduce them by another 3,500 by 2010, by that time we shall have attained the strategic victory over the communist party, New People’s Army, National Democratic Front,” he said. (VR/Sunnex)
