AFP claims leftist rebel strength waning

The government’s troop, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Thursday said that the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army’s (CPP-NPA) strength has waned after the rebel movement’s heyday in the 1980s. The APF said the CPP-NPA’s numbers have dropped from 24,430 to less than 5,000 fighters in the past two decades.

The military also estimated that the NPA now only influences 2.4 percent of barangays nationwide, compared to 20 percent in 1986. Meanwhile, the CPP also on Thursday revealed that it wanted to strengthen its rebel forces to train small teams in bomb-making and carry out operations against specific targets.

The CPP’s central committee, in a message to its commanders and fighters on the eve of the NPA’s 43rd founding anniversary, said its fighters “can be trained and employed to use AMFO (ammonium nitrate fuel oil) bombs, plastic bombs, TNT and incendiaries, including the modest cigarette lighter, to destroy target objects such as military vehicles, facilities, fortifications and other fixed structures.” It added that the NPA can use land mines and gasoline bombs against government forces, as well as fuel depots, motor pools and military planes and helicopters. –Neil A. Alcober, Manila Times