CLARK FREEPORT – Defense Sec. Gilbert Teodoro said the military is likely to reduce to “insignificant level” the New People’s Army (NPA) by the end of Pres. Arroyo’s term next year, so that communist insurgency could be made a mere police concern.
In an interview here, Teodoro also downplayed the claim of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP) that the global economic crisis would push more people to lean towards “revolutionary struggle” of the NPA.
In July, 2006, Pres. Arroyo gave the military two years to “crush” the NPA and allocated P2 billion for this. Teodoro said, however, that the military’s “actual order” from the President was to make “insignificant” the armed communist rebel forces.
He said that from 60 rebel guerilla fronts at the start of the Arroyo administration, the NPA’s fronts have been reduced only to only “30 or 40”.
Teodoro said that by next year, the military is expected to reduce the guerilla fronts to only six, even as he insisted that the NPA has lost its ideology and has ceased to be “bona fide rebellion”.
He said that most of the armed NPA guerillas are in eastern Mindanao where the rebels have two fronts, and in Abra. “In other areas, the NPA has been significantly downgraded,” he added.
Teodoro estimated that from an initial 6,000 armed guerillas, the NPA’s armed strength has already been reduced to only about 3,000.
“There’s a big, big chance for the military to pass on the role of fighting the NPA to the police by next year before the term of Pres. Arroyo ends,” he also said.
At the same time, Teodoro also said: “I don’t buy proposition that poverty lures people to NPA”.
“Otherwise, majority of the people who are poor would have become rebels,” he said.
Last January 30, a statement of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said that “the revolutionary people’s war is bound to progress throughout the country in the next few years as the global and local crisis deepens further”.
The CPP said “the Filipino people are left with no other option but to wage revolutionary struggle”. In another statement during its 40th anniversary last December, the CPP also bared plans to increase its guerilla fronts to 168 nationwide, or one guerilla front per congressional district.
Downplaying the role of poverty in boosting communist insurgency, Teodoro said the NPA has been reduced to banditry has thus lost its lure to people.
While being optimistic in reducing NPA to insignificant levels by next year, Teodoro, however, admitted that the Muslim separatist problem in the South will remain as “they are a much bigger force to deal with.” He noted that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has about 7,000 regulars.
Teodoro stressed, however, that reduction of communist insurgency problems would not mean the military would need lesser budget.
“We have to do more. The more they (NPA guerillas) disappear, the bigger we have to be so that they will not reappear again,” he said.
He noted that the government has only about 160,000 soldiers. “Our nearest neighbor Thailand has more than triple this number covering a contiguous land mass, unlike ours which is an archipelago,” he said.
Teodoro lamented the yearly P5 billion peso allocation for the modernization of the military. He said that one new state-of-the-art helicopter could cost $83 million or P3.7 billion each.
In an interview here, Teodoro also downplayed the claim of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP) that the global economic crisis would push more people to lean towards “revolutionary struggle” of the NPA.
In July, 2006, Pres. Arroyo gave the military two years to “crush” the NPA and allocated P2 billion for this. Teodoro said, however, that the military’s “actual order” from the President was to make “insignificant” the armed communist rebel forces.
He said that from 60 rebel guerilla fronts at the start of the Arroyo administration, the NPA’s fronts have been reduced only to only “30 or 40”.
Teodoro said that by next year, the military is expected to reduce the guerilla fronts to only six, even as he insisted that the NPA has lost its ideology and has ceased to be “bona fide rebellion”.
He said that most of the armed NPA guerillas are in eastern Mindanao where the rebels have two fronts, and in Abra. “In other areas, the NPA has been significantly downgraded,” he added.
Teodoro estimated that from an initial 6,000 armed guerillas, the NPA’s armed strength has already been reduced to only about 3,000.
“There’s a big, big chance for the military to pass on the role of fighting the NPA to the police by next year before the term of Pres. Arroyo ends,” he also said.
At the same time, Teodoro also said: “I don’t buy proposition that poverty lures people to NPA”.
“Otherwise, majority of the people who are poor would have become rebels,” he said.
Last January 30, a statement of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said that “the revolutionary people’s war is bound to progress throughout the country in the next few years as the global and local crisis deepens further”.
The CPP said “the Filipino people are left with no other option but to wage revolutionary struggle”. In another statement during its 40th anniversary last December, the CPP also bared plans to increase its guerilla fronts to 168 nationwide, or one guerilla front per congressional district.
Downplaying the role of poverty in boosting communist insurgency, Teodoro said the NPA has been reduced to banditry has thus lost its lure to people.
While being optimistic in reducing NPA to insignificant levels by next year, Teodoro, however, admitted that the Muslim separatist problem in the South will remain as “they are a much bigger force to deal with.” He noted that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has about 7,000 regulars.
Teodoro stressed, however, that reduction of communist insurgency problems would not mean the military would need lesser budget.
“We have to do more. The more they (NPA guerillas) disappear, the bigger we have to be so that they will not reappear again,” he said.
He noted that the government has only about 160,000 soldiers. “Our nearest neighbor Thailand has more than triple this number covering a contiguous land mass, unlike ours which is an archipelago,” he said.
Teodoro lamented the yearly P5 billion peso allocation for the modernization of the military. He said that one new state-of-the-art helicopter could cost $83 million or P3.7 billion each.
