End of Communist Insurgency in Bikol by 2010 Targeted

PILI, Camarines Sur -- Government forces will embark on a renewed military offensive against communist rebels in an all out bid to end the four-decades old insurgency problem in Bikol by 2010, a ranking Army officer here said recently.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has placed Bikol, along with two other areas in Mindanao and Visayas, as among the top national priority areas where internal security operations (ISO) would be heightened against the remaining New People Army (NPA) rebels which have dwindled in number owing sustained military operations and eroding civilian support.

Army Maj. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan, commanding general of the Army's 9th Infantry Division (ID) here said the Bikol peninsula, Davao in Mindanao and Negros in the Visayas are among the top three regions placed under the national priority areas to initiate an aggressive ISO counter-insurgency plan that will put an end to the rebellion.

Pabustan bared an intensified military operation calibrated to bring down ten communist guerrilla fronts (GF) of about 600 armed rebels operating in the six provinces of Bikol.

"Although we have dismantled several GF in the provinces of Sorsogon, Camarines Sur, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is bent on bringing down the remaining communist fronts," Pabustan said.

The top Army official in Bikol told reporters at a media dialogue held here recently that the military offensive would put insurgency at an "inconsequential" level.

Asked when the insurgency problem will finally come to a close, he stressed insurgency is a problem that cannot be solved through military means alone but with the support of national line agencies, local government units and the public.

"The support by various civilian authorities and the public would surely bring the communist movement under an 'insignificant' level," he averred.

Under the national priority areas for ISO, the AFP would send reinforcements to augment personnel conducting combat operations in the areas where insurgents are still operating.

Military forces are just waiting for the right time as "we are already set to launch offensive with the newly acquired military equipment under the AFP modernization program designed to boost its military machinery against the NPA," Pabustan said.

The Army is set to recruit, train and assign thousands of militiamen to make up the 18 companies of Civilian Armed Forces for Geographical Unit (CAFGU) to be deployed in with known communist presence.

Military intelligence said among the six provinces of the region, hundreds of villages in the provinces of Camarines Sur, Masbate, Albay and Sorsogon are considered as insurgency "hot spots" after the presence armed guerrillas were noted in these areas.

The military offensive is a move intended to neutralize, if not to totally wipe out, the communist movement by 2010, military intelligence said.

Government forces here have pursued military offensive against the communist movement for the past 40 years resulting to the death of thousands of its guerrilla fighters as well as government soldiers and civilians.

Billions of pesos in private and public vital infrastructures were destroyed that led to a slow down on the growth of economies in the regions, the report said. (PNA)