NPAs beaten by 2010 — AFP

By James Mananghaya

The Philippine Star 09/18/2006

Government forces are geared up to accomplish their mission to neutralize the communist New People’s Army (NPA) before President Arroyo ends her term by 2010, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon declared yesterday.

Esperon said the military has already set the timetable to neutralize the NPA in such a way that the Philippine National Police (PNP) can handle the insurgents without any military support.

"We believe that we have the mechanics for addressing the roots of insurgency and as we go along, we believe that we could dictate a faster pace of operations... and in four years time, we hope to achieve some kind of strategic victory," he said.

And by that time, Esperon said, the AFP would be in a better position to put down any armed conflict because of the Philippine Defense Reform Program currently being implemented.

"You will have an even stronger Armed Forces by 2010 to address the insurgency (problem)," Esperon said.

Over the years, the government significantly decreased the strength of the NPA, from a high of 25,000 in 1987 to only 7,200 armed fighters at present.

The communists have been waging a 37-year-old insurgency campaign that seeks to create a Marxist state in the country. Their forces are spread through most of the country, straining the manpower and supply lines of the 120,000-strong AFP and the 110,000-member PNP.

"That (NPA’s current strength) is still a considerable amount of insurgency especially so that the roots of insurgency are still there," Esperon said.

This is why the government launched an all out offensive against the communists, he pointed out.

In fighting one of Asia’s longest-running communist rebellions, Mrs. Arroyo gave the AFP a P1-billion war chest to finance combat operations aimed at wiping out the NPA within the next three years.

The President has tasked the budget department to raise more funding for the poorly equipped AFP to buy attack helicopters and other equipment to fight the protracted insurgency.

She stressed the additional P1-billion funding "will give a decisive edge" to the AFP against the 7,000-strong NPA.

The NPA, which claims to have a presence in nearly 70 of the country’s 79 provinces, suspended the Norwegian-brokered peace talks with the government two years ago, mainly to protest Manila’s refusal to pressure the United States and the European Union to remove the groups from their lists of foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs).

The government has long accused the rebels of extortion and economic sabotage.

Following the terror tag placed on the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA by the US and EU which virtually froze their financial assets abroad, the communist rebels were forced into criminal activities to raise funds to finance their struggle.

In order to raise money, the NPA took to extorting from businessmen and the wealthy through revolutionary taxation.

Mrs. Arroyo had tasked the AFP to run the NPA to the ground and protect the people and business firms forced by the communist rebels into paying "revolutionary" taxes.

Over 3,000 troops have been "re-trained, re-equipped and re-deployed" as part of the timetable to crush the communist rebellion within three years.

About three Army battalions, or 1,500 soldiers, have been pulled from southern Mindanao, where the government is observing a two year-old truce with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). RSM a spent force

Esperon also declared the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM) has been rendered ineffective with the arrest of its leaders and "are unlikely to stage an attack."

Esperon said the RSM was forced to split into small groups after their leaders were arrested.

Despite this development, Esperon said the group is "still a cause for concern."

"They are mostly ineffective. There are some splinters of them and we are monitoring them. They are a source of concern," Esperon said.

The group composed of Islam converts has been linked to a number of deadly assaults, including a February 2004 bombing that gutted the SuperFerry 14 and killed 116 people in the country’s worst terrorist attack.

The RSM has worked with other al-Qaeda-linked groups, like the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and the extremist Abu Sayyaf bandit group in southern Philippines, in plotting attacks and undertaking joint terror training in the dense jungles of central Mindanao.

The group was tagged behind a number of bombing incidents in Metro Manila.

"Due to counter-actions from the Philippine National Police (PNP) primarily and from the Armed Forces, they have been rendered ineffective right now. Their leader Ahmad Santos had been apprehended," Esperon said.

Santos, whose real name is Hilarion del Rosario Santos, was arrested along with eight of his cohorts by security forces in Zamboanga City, four months after meeting with JI militants in Central Mindanao.

The military seized a sizeable number of firearms and explosives along with a detailed map of Metro Manila, purportedly showing some targets for bombing.

Esperon also noted the arrest of Redendo Cain Dellosa, alias Habil Akmad Dellosa, another RSM leader who allegedly carried out the SuperFerry 14 firebombing.

The JI supposedly funded the attack, as well as the simultaneous Valentine’s Day bombing in Makati, Davao City and General Santos City.

Based on some documents seized by government troops during the assault of Camp Abubakar, the MILF stronghold in central Mindanao last July 2000, there are at least 30 JI operatives operating in the country.

Among the JI militants are Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both tagged for the October 2002 twin bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed more than 200 mostly foreign tourists.

Both are now the subject of a massive manhunt by security forces in Patikul, Sulu.

"The report on the 30 Jemaah Islamiyah started, it actually originated from reports coming from our forces deployed in Lanao particularly the camps near Camp Abubakar... The number 30 came out from there," Esperon said.

Last year, security forces were placed on alert on the lookout for the two JI militants who were given refuge by Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani.

The US government has offered up to million for the capture of Dulmatin and million for Patek.

The two Indonesian terrorists have joined Janjalani to train the Abu Sayyaf recruits in terror tactics.

The Abu Sayyaf, in turn, is using the RSM to carry out bombings and other terror attacks, officials said.

US and Australian officials have been concerned by the reported existence of terror training camps in southern Philippines which they said could produce militants that could launch attacks anywhere.

The Abu Sayyaf is allegedly providing protection and assistance to the JI militants in return for training the bandits in handling explosives.

Esperon, however, said the RSM is already a spent force since it is having difficulty reorganizing itself due to the arrest of their top ranking leaders.