Duterte: Military may finish off NPA in 2019

MANILA, Philippines — The military may defeat the New People's Army this year because many rebels are surrendering to the government, President Rodrigo Duterte said.

Duterte said security forces and mayors have been active in convincing rebels to return to lay down their arms.

"So, we are trying to really go out and just embrace them as brothers and at no other time, there were several firearms. If they become decimated by the number of surrenderees, maybe the Armed Forces can finish them off next year," the president said in a meeting with local officials in Clark, Pampanga on Wednesday.

Duterte is not the first president to say that the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front, which has been waging war against the government since 1969, was close to defeat.

"They can take whatever initiatives they want...the killing continues, but at no other time are the NPAs surrendering with their firearms," he added.

According to military data, more than 2,200 NPAs have surrendered to the government in the first two months of the year. Officials attributed the high number of surrenders to military and intelligence operations and to parallel development programs.

"We are succeeding hopefully if we can sustain the momentum," Duterte said.

The president said the communist rebels who surrendered are vulnerable to attacks by their former comrades.

"It is taboo to them here and in Mindanao, everywhere, when you surrender and then you turn over your firearms to the soldier or the policeman. They will really hunt you down because that is anathema, a taboo. Talagang yayariin ka (They will really run after you)," he said.

The communist insurgency, Duterte said, still poses a problem in the provinces of Abra and Nueva Ecija but the situation is worse in Mindanao, where the Armed Forces of the Philippines says the bulk of NPA membership operates.

"Until now, they go about collecting taxes," the president said.

"Is this the way you treat the civilian if you are in power? You are all sexual predators," he added, referring to unspecified allegations that some NPA members have molested female civilians.

Duterte has terminated the peace talks with communists, saying the rebels want a coalition government or a power-sharing setup that is against the 1987 Constitution. He has also expressed doubts on the sincerity of the rebels to the peace process, citing their attacks that harmed civilians.

On Tuesday, Duterte said he might reconsider his decision to scrap the talks with communists if negotiators come up with a ceasefire agreement.

NPA: No involvement in kidnapping for ransom

The Communist Party of the Philippines has played down the surrenders, saying the people that the military claims to have surrendered are not their members. They said the supposed surrenders under the government's Comprehensive Local Integration Program are part of the military propaganda.

In a related development, the CPP disavowed Donato Jacob, the man that Philippine National Police Director General Ronal Dela Rosa claims is an NPA guerrilla involved in kidnapping for ransom.

Dela Rosa made the claims in late February, saying Jacob was arrested in connection with the kidnapping of a certain Raziel Bungay in 2017. A Philippine News Agency report also claimed Jacob is "affiliated with the Raziel Bungay KFR group."

Dela Rosa said Jacob and other suspects admitted to being members of the NPA in Bulacan. According to a Sun.Star report, Jacob also allegedly claimed that his supposed group of communist rebels planned the abduction "to raise funds for their Christmas party."

"Without providing proof, dela Rosa insisted that this Jacob is a member of the NPA... Indeed, the NPA does not know of this Jacob," the CPP's Information Bureau said.

The NPA has been documented to have abducted police and military personnel as "prisoners of war", bu the CPP said that "as a revolutionary people's army, the NPA rejects kidnapping-for-ransom and other criminal activities."  It said that "this policy continues to be observed strictly."

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice dropped illegal firearms charges against a Tunisian man whom Dela Rosa claimed was a leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria terrorist group. The DOJ also dropped charges against the Tunisian's Filipina companion. — with Jonathan de Santos