By Priam Nepomuceno
MANILA – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Tuesday communist insurgents are no longer capable of conducting large-scale operations, even as they look to celebrate the 56th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Dec. 26.
“As they have been already weakened, and being weakened, they are no longer capable of staging major operations and also, meron na din po sila (they have) a leadership vacuum, and they are not capable of recruiting any more additional personnel into their ranks,” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
This comes as the New People’s Army (NPA), the CPP’s armed wing, might commit retaliatory attacks to mark the occasion.
She, however, said the AFP is ready to thwart these actions.
“Our commanders on the ground, we trust (that they) know the situations on the ground and they will be preparing accordingly,” Padilla said.
She also said the AFP would continue with its internal security operations to finish the remaining communist insurgents in the country at the soonest possible time.
“From the start of the year, we started with seven weakened guerrilla fronts, ngayon (now) we’re down to one and we’re well within targets,” Padilla said.
In a command conference in January, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered the AFP to defeat the country’s insurgency once and for all. (PNA)
