Reds boast of tactical wins; vow to frustrate anti-insurgency drive
THE Panay Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines boasted its victories against the Armed Forces of the Philippines, as they vowed that they will frustrate the government’s anti-insurgency campaign.
“Of the 18 encounters between the enemy (AFP) and the New People’s Army in 2009, 13 were tactical offensives by the NPA. There were 21 casualties, including 8 who died and 13 wounded. In all of these, the people supported the armed struggle and openly opposed the militarization,” Concha Araneta, Panay Regional Committee spokeperson, said in a statement. The statement, which was written in hiligaynon, was dated December 26, 2009, the 41st anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines, but was emailed to members of the media only yesterday.
“These,” Araneta pointed out, “is only part of the nationwide gains of the CPP in frustrating the upsetting Oplan Bantay Laya II.”
Araneta also took note of the mass actions against the Arroyo administration.
However, Lt. Mark Andrew Posadas, public information officer of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, countered the claims of the NPA. In a public affairs television program yesterday, Posadas said that the AFP had reduced the number of rebel fronts in Region VI from seven in 2005 to five as of 2009. He further said that the Armed Forces is on schedule to reducing the communist insurgency in the country.
They are trying to project their strength because there hold is weakening, Posadas said. The rebels have a problem in recruiting new members and in their logistics, he adds.
Araneta said that despite the intensified military offensives under the Operation Bantay Laya, the rebel force grew stronger.
At the same time, Araneta bared in the statement the Party’s tasks as part of what they call as the next level in their revolutionary struggle.
In the coming months, the CPP’s spokesperson in Panay said that they will be completing the formation of two to three company-sized rebels fronts.
They have long wanted to form company-sized fronts, but they are having problems in their recruitment, Posadas said, in reaction.
Araneta also said that they will frustrate President Arroyo’s drive to root out insurgency by the end of her term in June this year.
As a parting shot, Araneta said that they will be mobilizing the huge masses of people in ousting Mrs. Arroyo from power and hold her accountable for what the CPP says are her crimes to the people.
