CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Military commanders in the field north of Metro Manila said that the 40-year-old communist insurgency is now “coming to an end.”
This declaration was made by Maj. Gen. Irineo Espino, commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) following a series of recent developments which he described as “a clear manifestation” of the end of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
He cited one such development as the surrender of Felicissimo Jacobe, alias Ka Tonio, reportedly the commander of the Sangay sa Partido Platun-Pampanga under Central Luzon regional committee of the New People’s Army (NPA).
Jacobe surrendered to Lt. Col. Juny Castro, commander of the 3rd infantry battalion of the 7th ID at the municipal hall of Orion, Bataan last Dec. 14.
“This is a clear manifestation that insurgency is now coming to an end. For over 40 years of fighting against the government, their numbers are going down, their ideology is barely recognized and their commanders have been awakened and are now surrendering,” Espino said.
In his report to Espino, 703rd brigade commander, Col. Jose Mabanta Jr, said the surrender of Jacobe was a major blow to the NPA not only in Bataan but to the entire communist insurgency movement in the country. The surrender, the report said, was worked out through the combined efforts of the local government of Orion, the Army’s provincial mobile group headed by Lt. Col. Benjamin Silo, and the 7th military intelligence battalion. Jacobe signed an affidavit testifying to his “voluntary surrender” and his desire to “go back to the fold of the law.”
In her speech during the 74th anniversary celebration of the Armed Forces of the Philippines before the Christmas holidays, Pres. Arroyo again renewed her three-year-old directive for the Armed Forces to rid the country of communist insurgents before she steps down in June this year.
The President then noted that in the last three years, the government has witnessed a decline in the strength of the armed communist groups, as she attributed this to her administration’s “hard and soft strategies” to refer to combined military operations and community development programs in strife-torn areas in various parts of the country.
It was in 2006 that Mrs. Arroyo first ordered the military and police to crush the communist insurgency by the end of her term this June.
Espino said that after his surrender, Jacobe also led authorities to his home in Barangay Liyang in Pilar, Bataan to turn over to them one cal.45 pistol and two magazines for long firearms.
He added that also recently, troopers from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division dug up a cache of arms consisting of six M-16 and three M-14 high-powered firearms at Barangay Naugsol in Subic, Zambales.
At another site in Naugsol, the troopers again unearthed four more arms, including four M-653, one M-16 and one rifle-attached M-203, assorted ammunitions and subversive documents.
A week later, follow-up operations were conducted to recover the reported arms cache at the vicinity of Sitio Papaya, San Pablo, Castillejos, Zambales. The troops were able to recover one Browning Automatic Rifle, one homemade shotgun, seven pieces of rifle grenades, and several bullet magazines for the Browning rifle, Espino said.
Espino also said other NPA leaders have already surrendered to the government in the recent years and that their surrenders were triggered by “the lack of mass support, hardship and disillusionment within their ranks.”
Nolcom spokesperson Lt. Col. Rosendo Armas said that there have been numerous other cases in the recent years in which military troopers dug up arms belonging to the NPA. This, he said, strongly indicated that the rebels already lacked manpower to equip with such arms.
Armas also said the military is on track with the order of the President to end communist insurgency by the end of her term.
In a statement, Espino said “your Army will continue to do the job to achieve a physically and psychologically secured environment, to attain a peaceful society conducive to socio-economic development”, even as he appealed to the remaining members of the NPA “to go back to the mainstream society and live a normal life with their family.”
This declaration was made by Maj. Gen. Irineo Espino, commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) following a series of recent developments which he described as “a clear manifestation” of the end of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
He cited one such development as the surrender of Felicissimo Jacobe, alias Ka Tonio, reportedly the commander of the Sangay sa Partido Platun-Pampanga under Central Luzon regional committee of the New People’s Army (NPA).
Jacobe surrendered to Lt. Col. Juny Castro, commander of the 3rd infantry battalion of the 7th ID at the municipal hall of Orion, Bataan last Dec. 14.
“This is a clear manifestation that insurgency is now coming to an end. For over 40 years of fighting against the government, their numbers are going down, their ideology is barely recognized and their commanders have been awakened and are now surrendering,” Espino said.
In his report to Espino, 703rd brigade commander, Col. Jose Mabanta Jr, said the surrender of Jacobe was a major blow to the NPA not only in Bataan but to the entire communist insurgency movement in the country. The surrender, the report said, was worked out through the combined efforts of the local government of Orion, the Army’s provincial mobile group headed by Lt. Col. Benjamin Silo, and the 7th military intelligence battalion. Jacobe signed an affidavit testifying to his “voluntary surrender” and his desire to “go back to the fold of the law.”
In her speech during the 74th anniversary celebration of the Armed Forces of the Philippines before the Christmas holidays, Pres. Arroyo again renewed her three-year-old directive for the Armed Forces to rid the country of communist insurgents before she steps down in June this year.
The President then noted that in the last three years, the government has witnessed a decline in the strength of the armed communist groups, as she attributed this to her administration’s “hard and soft strategies” to refer to combined military operations and community development programs in strife-torn areas in various parts of the country.
It was in 2006 that Mrs. Arroyo first ordered the military and police to crush the communist insurgency by the end of her term this June.
Espino said that after his surrender, Jacobe also led authorities to his home in Barangay Liyang in Pilar, Bataan to turn over to them one cal.45 pistol and two magazines for long firearms.
He added that also recently, troopers from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division dug up a cache of arms consisting of six M-16 and three M-14 high-powered firearms at Barangay Naugsol in Subic, Zambales.
At another site in Naugsol, the troopers again unearthed four more arms, including four M-653, one M-16 and one rifle-attached M-203, assorted ammunitions and subversive documents.
A week later, follow-up operations were conducted to recover the reported arms cache at the vicinity of Sitio Papaya, San Pablo, Castillejos, Zambales. The troops were able to recover one Browning Automatic Rifle, one homemade shotgun, seven pieces of rifle grenades, and several bullet magazines for the Browning rifle, Espino said.
Espino also said other NPA leaders have already surrendered to the government in the recent years and that their surrenders were triggered by “the lack of mass support, hardship and disillusionment within their ranks.”
Nolcom spokesperson Lt. Col. Rosendo Armas said that there have been numerous other cases in the recent years in which military troopers dug up arms belonging to the NPA. This, he said, strongly indicated that the rebels already lacked manpower to equip with such arms.
Armas also said the military is on track with the order of the President to end communist insurgency by the end of her term.
In a statement, Espino said “your Army will continue to do the job to achieve a physically and psychologically secured environment, to attain a peaceful society conducive to socio-economic development”, even as he appealed to the remaining members of the NPA “to go back to the mainstream society and live a normal life with their family.”
