MANILA – Soldiers will be on tight watch as the Communist Party of the Philippines celebrates its 50th founding anniversary on Dec. 26.
Those who will be “extending support and sympathies” to the rebel group will be “exposed,” stressed the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The Armed Forces also assured that a specialized unit aided by intelligence and special personnel can counter the “hit squads” of the movement’s armed wing, the New People’s Army.
Its Public Affairs Office chief said on Monday the celebration will be “hollow” as the rebels commemorate 50 years of “deceit, atrocities and lies.”
“We will closely monitor [the rebels] and those who will be extending support and sympathies, and we will expose them so the Filipinos will have an informed decision when the moment of choosing comes,” said Colonel Noel Detoyato.
Meanwhile the Armed Forces chief of staff said 136 people, including police and military officers, have been killed by NPA hit squads over the past three years.
“To counter this” the Armed Forces will organize a “counter-Sparu (Special Partisan Unit) with the (assistance of our) intelligence and special units,” Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. said Monday.
These NPA hit squads were “very active” in Bicol, Eastern Mindanao, Western Mindanao, and some parts of Samar and Negros.
No civilians will be involved in the counter-Sparu, Galvez assured.
OVER 10T SURRENDERED
Meanwhile a total of 10,698 NPA members and supporters have surrendered to government forces from January 1 to Nov. 28, the Armed Forces said.
Among them were 1,121 “regular” NPA members and 9,577 supporters from the rebels’ so-called “militia ng bayan,” Detoyato said.
NPA forces were only at around 3,000, based on military estimates, but “nagre-recruit pa din sila kaya [the figure is] constantly changing,” said the Armed Forces official.
Detoyato attributed the surrender of thousands of NPA members and supporters to the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program, which helps reintegrate rebel returnees to mainstream society. (With a report from Philippine News Agency/PN)
