Lorenzana sees no end to insurgency under Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — The problem of insurgency has become insurmountable and it would be difficult to defeat the communist rebels in the remaining three years of the Duterte administration.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana admitted this as he announced changes in the timetable to defeat the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

“We cannot do it this year because the (insurgency) problem is so enormous. It has been going on for the last 50 years and we cannot end it in one year. Our target now is the remaining three years of President Duterte’s presidency,” Lorenzana said during the traditional New Year’s call of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Last year, the AFP leadership confidently declared they can defeat the NPA in the second quarter of this year.

The same timeframe was also announced several times by President Duterte in his previous speeches directed toward the NPA and Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison.

Lorenzana said the defeat of the NPA will be hastened by initiating localized peace talks with the rebels under the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP).

E-CLIP is a government funded program that offers financial benefits as well as livelihood projects for surrendering NPA rebels and their sympathizers.

He said while NPA regulars across the country are only less than 4,000-strong following the surrender of around 1,000 fighters to the authorities, they still have the backing of an estimated 50,000 militia supporters.

“We estimate that there are around 50,000 of them (militia) who are supporting the NPA (regulars) across the country,” Lorenzana said.

AFP chief Lt. Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. rallied the troops yesterday to continue performing their mandated tasks, including putting an end to communist insurgency.

“As we start another year, let me remind everyone that our endstate for 2019 is to achieve the President’s desire to ultimately win the peace and finally put an end to local communist armed conflict,” Madrigal said.

Madrigal added the AFP intends to attain its missions and objectives by unifying efforts at all levels of government with the end view of developing conflict-resilient communities.

“All these may seem as daunting tasks but let us bear in mind that we are not alone in this battle. We have an entire nation that emboldens us, supports our fight and inspires us to do what is right and noble,” Madrigal said.

Failure                                      

Sison, on the other hand, said Duterte’s resolve to destroy the CPP-NPA before the end of 2018 has proven to be a complete failure. 

He said the military, police and auxiliary forces had failed to destroy even a single guerrilla front anywhere in the Philippines and not even in Mindanao where martial law has been imposed. 

“They can keep on moving their goal for destroying the revolutionary movement but the Filipino people and the revolutionary forces will keep on advancing in struggle and celebrating their victories from month to month and from year to year until the tyrannical and corrupt Duterte regime is gone,” Sison said.

Sison said the government needs the peace negotiations more than the rebels.

Sison maintained it was Duterte who terminated the peace talks in 2017.

He said the burden of proving that Duterte is willing to engage in peace negotiations is with him, not the National Democratic Front (NDF), the umbrella organization representing the communist rebels in the peace talks. 

“He (Duterte) is still engaged in self-contradictory statements like being willing to negotiate but dictating preconditions that render negotiations impossible,” Sison said.

He said Duterte also has to prove that he is in total command of his own wits and his own subordinates.

“In any case, the crisis of the already rotten ruling system and the treasonous, tyrannical, brutal and corrupt Duterte regime are generating the favorable conditions for the people’s war for the people’s democratic revolution,” Sison said.

Because of this, Sison said the people are waging all forms of resistance.   – With Jose Rodel Clapano