THE ARMED division of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA), celebrates on Friday, March 29, its 50th founding anniversary.
While CPP founder Jose Ma. Sison claims that the armed movement will intensify up to the year 2021, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) dismissed the movement as "nothing but a total failure."
Sison, in a lengthy statement published via the website philippinerevolution.info, said that there is a five-year plan (2017-2021) of the Central Committee which aims to carry forward the "anti-fascist, anti-feudal and anti-imperialist movement and overthrow the tyrannical US-Duterte regime, and bring the protracted people’s war to the advanced phase of the strategic defensive, in order to reach the threshold of the strategic stalemate."
Sison cited five major points on how this plan would be achieved, including the calls for resolving the imbalance of strength, spread and advance of guerrilla warfare between "the relatively more advanced regions in Mindanao and those in Luzon and Visayas, and attain effective cooperation and coordination in advancing guerrilla warfare nationwide."
"It calls for building the NPA operational command at the national level down to the sub-regional level to develop planning, coordination and leadership of the NPA work. It also calls for the recruitment of cadres from workers and the educated youth and for developing, training and promotion of military cadres. It calls for further expansion and training of units of people’s militias, self-defense units of mass organizations to develop their capability in waging mass guerrilla warfare. It calls for building partisan units," Sison said in the same statement.
There are still many NPA guerrillas in Northern Mindanao and Caraga regions, based on military and NPA propaganda that are dispatched to the media.
The military has been sending out stories of alleged NPA members in Bukidnon and Agusan provinces surrendering to the government through the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP). CPP-NPA officials criticized this as a desperate attempt by the military and the government, claiming that the surrenderers were not real members of the NPA.
Military's stance
However, AFP public affairs office Chief Noel Detoyato, in a message forwarded to the government-owned Philippine News Agency, said on Thursday, March 28, that the "CPP-NPA’s 50-year rebellion is an utter failure as it only resulted (in) loss of lives and destruction to properties.”
“If there is anything significant to the CPP-NPA’s existence, it is the 50 years of violence, injustice, atrocities, deceit and lies. They continuously hinder peace and development in some areas of our country. The leaders, members, and supporters of the communist terrorist group should be ashamed of themselves for bringing years of hardships and misery to our people," he said.
He called on Filipinos to help the government in putting an end to the decades-long violence of the communist movement.
He added that it is never too late for rebel fighters and supporters, tired of their causeless fight, to return to their loved ones and families and live productive lives in mainstream society.
"It is never too late for them to return to the fold of society and adhere to the rule of law. Our government has laid programs for rebels who wish to surrender such as the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program or E-CLIP to help them start their new lives as productive Filipinos," the AFP official said.
The E-CLIP, which was institutionalized by President Rodrigo R Duterte on April 3, 2018, provides a complete package of assistance and interventions to former communist rebels and their immediate families to prepare them for integration to mainstream society.
These include skills development training from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, PhilHealth enrolment, housing, livelihood and legal assistance, among others.
DND statement
Meanwhile, the Department of National Defense (DND) said the five decades of the NPA's existence is a sad and unfortunate reminder of the Filipino people’s suffering.
"For five long decades the NPA stained our soil with blood, extorted from our hard working people, harassed our communities, and tore Filipino families apart. The screams for justice by their countless victims are deafening, and the President has heard them all," the DND said in a statement.
The agency also called on Filipinos to support the government’s efforts to eliminate the communist rebels from the land.
"Let us show the world that the NPA and their ways of crime, violence and terror have no place in our homes, in our society, and in our country," it added.
Around 11,000 NPA fighters and supporters have surrendered to government troops since January 2018.
Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., AFP deputy chief-of-staff for civil-military operations, earlier said the government is ready to finally end the communist threat through Executive Order (EO) No. 70 signed by the President on Dec. 4, 2018.
EO 70 provides for a whole-of-nation approach in defeating the local communist terrorist groups.
The EO created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), chaired by the President, “to synchronize the utilization of the government's instrumentalities of power with the capabilities of private sector stakeholders to finally end the 50-year long deceit, lies and atrocities committed by the communist terrorists against the people”.
“The NTF-ELCAC will finish this terrorist menace once and for all, and with that comes real government service, not tokenism, livelihood for the poorest especially in conflict affected areas, legal action for those who support these terrorist group, an entire bureaucratic convergence to address issues exploited by dissidents and a determined leadership. With President Duterte himself leading the charge, how can we go wrong?” Parlade said.
The CPP-NPA is listed as terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. (Nef Luczon with reports from PNA)