NPA fronts reduced in Eastern Visayas – Army

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — The military has claimed success in reducing communist rebel forces in Eastern Visayas.

Lt. Col. Armand Rico, information officer of the 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, based in Catbalogan City, said their anti-insurgency campaign in 2009 reduced the 14 communist guerilla fronts of New People’s Army in the region to just two, both of which in Northern Samar.

Rico said government troops initiated at least 70 anti-insurgency operations that led to the capture of 26 suspected rebels. Twelve suspected rebels were killed in these clashes.

These operations also resulted in the surrender of 159 New People’s Army (NPA) members and the recovery of 145 assorted firearms, Rico added.

The military operations in Eastern Visayas in 2009 also led to the discovery and dismantling of 28 rebel camps, according to Rico.

He said 140 villages in Samar provinces were also “freed” from the influence of the rebels in 2009.

“We can say that our anti-insurgency campaign was a success,” Rico said.

The military official said their campaign against the insurgents would continue to be relentless in 2010 until full dismantling of rebel fronts in Eastern Visayas.

The campaign would not only involve military operations but also the delivery of basic services and projects to the people living in remote villages, he said.

The Philippine Army, through its engineering battalions, are engaged in various projects like the construction of farm-to-market roads, water system, health centers, school buildings and even electrification under its “Kalayaan sa Barangay (Freedom for Villages) Project.”

“We will enhance our territorial defense system and our community works as part of our campaign against the rebels here in the region,” Rico said.

Over a hundred villages in the region, mostly in the Samar provinces, benefited from the military’s electrification project, he said.

Priest-turned-rebel Fr. Santiago Salas, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front in Eastern Visayas, however, claimed “victory” against government soldiers in 2009.

In an emailed statement Saturday, Salas said that of the 60 “tactical offensives” that the NPA carried out last year, their group was able to confiscate 40 firearms from soldiers and inflicted 90 casualties.

“We aim to carry out more annihilative guerrilla offensives to accumulate more firearms and strengthen ourselves while weakening the enemy of the people,” Salas said. –Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas