Pres. Marcos Jr.’s top security adviser says ‘weakened’ NPA guerrilla fronts down to 5

August 14, 2024

Secretary Eduardo Año, the top national security adviser of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said the number of “weakened” guerrilla fronts (GF) of the New People’s Army (NPA) has been further reduced to only five from seven as reported earlier by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in its first-semester report.

“We are confident na kaya nating matapos ‘yung armed component. Sa Armed Forces of the Philippines, ang target nila ay December 2024, August pa lang naman tayo,” said Año, when asked how confident the government attained total victory against the communist insurgency, the longest armed struggle in Asia.

Año, together with other top executives from the National Security Council (NSC) and NTF-ELCAC led by its executive director, Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr., hosted Tuesday night (Aug. 13, 2024) a dinner dialogue at Seda Vertis North, Quezon City with top executives of Philippine media organizations.

Notable guests include former cabinet secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. from the Manila Bulletin; Chay Hofilena, Bea Cupin and Miriam Grace Go of Rappler; Jennifer Ng of Business Mirror; Chito Lozada of Daily Tribune; Raffy Tima and Raffy Jimenez of GMA Integrated News; Claude Vitug, Chi Almario-Gonzalez and Mary Anne Francis Toral-Torres of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs; Rex Espiritu of Manila Standard and Kristina Maralit of Manila Times. Other national broadcast and broadsheet executives did not make it due to hectic editorial schedules.

Welcoming the guests, NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said the NTF-ELCAC-initiated gathering was the first ever since the task force was established in 2018 through Executive Order No. 70.

In his remarks, Año, while acknowledging the powerful role of the media in shaping public opinion being the “Fourth State”, wooed the executives to be government partners for peace and development efforts.

“The media bear such a hefty responsibility, but we're more than willing to help you come up with fair and informed reportage. And I hope too that you are willing to join hands with us. Keeping the citizenry abreast of these issues and propelling them to take action should be a shared commitment between the government and the media,” said Año.

Año emphasized this vibrant partnership amid incessant national and international vilification campaigns by the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front and its front organizations against NTF-ELCAC using as cover the “red-tagging” issue, which the government constantly denied.

He said that the task force has been a “unifying institution” that has corrected lapses in the past in the government’s fight against terrorism and communist armed conflict.

“We’ve poured so much in this campaign – so much that we’re afraid that our efforts will just be tarnished or will just be put into vain by controversies of any wrongdoing or lapse on our part. As such, we’ve been as sincere as ever in our drive, always setting our sights on what could give rise to a lasting and widespread peace and development across the archipelago,” Año said.

The NPA, organized on March 29, 1969, by the late infamous Jose Maria Sison aka Joma, is the armed component of the CPP. The violent Maoist-inspired insurgents advocating for a bloody overthrow of the government had once formidable red fighters of more or less 25,000 in the 1980s.

But since NTF-ELCAC was established five years ago, according to Torres, the 89 active NPA GFs in 2018 had been rendered inconsequential and therefore weakened with only five remaining.

He, however, clarified that the two more weakened NPA GF casualties are already being readied for official announcement by appropriate government units especially the military and the concerned local government units (LGUs).

Meanwhile, Año pointed out that the elimination of the CPP’s armed component is not the end in itself.

“It doesn’t mean naman na kapag wala na ‘yung GF na ‘yan ay tapos na. Sabi nga namin, we’re in the finishing touches. Kung minsan hindi madali ‘yung finishing touches kaysa sa structural kasi diyan na papasok ‘yung mga nitty-gritties. We expect na marami pa ring gagawin gaya nung pag-prevent natin sa recruitment. Mahirap kasing i-address ‘yung recruitment kung magkakaroon ka ng pause, halimbawa, puwede nang itigil ‘yung mag-dialogue, consultation efforts ng mga sectoral. Pero hindi e, dapat tuloy-tuloy pa rin. Lalo na sa white area kung saan sila nagre-recruit,” he said, as he likened the radicalization and recruitment or terror grooming by the CPP-NPA-NDF to a “pyramid scheme”.

What is important though, Año said, is the elimination of the armed struggle and that the CPP will abandon it which is the real intent of the November 2023 Oslo Communique signed between the government and NDF negotiating panels.

“Kaya nga ang sabi natin, if they will no longer use the armed struggle pero tuloy-tuloy pa rin sila, OK din ‘yun. Kasi kapag walang NPA sa organisasyon, kahit na magdadakdakan sila, parang rotary club lang ‘yan, usap-usap sila, pero walang mamamatay, ‘yun ‘yung gusto natin. But at the same time, we’re aggressively addressing the root causes of the armed conflict through good governance, that’s why the NTF-ELCAC is there,” he said. END NTF-ELCAC MEDIA BUREAU

Ref: Joel M. Sy Egco

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