AFP Cannot Defeat The NPA In Negros Island

Maoche Legislador | Spokesperson | Negros Island Regional Operational Command (Apolinario Gatmaitan Command) | New People’s Army

June 9, 2023

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Andres Centino leads his reactionary armed forces further into doom with illusions of possibly defeating the New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros by year end.

Like his underlings, he insists that guerrilla fronts in Negros are either dismantled or weakened. He is overconfident of the AFP’s huge funds and “modern” second-hand equipment, thus underestimating the people’s war waged on the island. He will choke on his bravado as guerrilla fronts under the NPA’s Negros Island Regional Operational Command have the full support of the masses in advancing the revolution wave upon wave and carrying out the three integral tasks of armed struggle, agrarian revolution, and mass base building.

Centino demands a “sense of urgency” and commands his troops to take advantage of what he calls “leadership vacuum, lack of resources, and losing mass-based support” of Negros Island’s revolutionary movement.

The revolutionary movement led by the Communist Party of the Philippines has a plethora of Party cadres in every level, armed with Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and tempered by struggle, who will succeed and continue the task of leading the revolution. The revolutionary movement is not based on a sole individual but on the conscious undertaking of the masses long exploited by centuries of injustice. There can never really be a ‘vacuum,’ but a long line of revolutionaries willing to fight for a just cause.

Revolutionaries and revolutionary leaders pass away, that is a law of nature. But, it is also true that a proletarian-led revolution will persist no matter the hardships to usher in a society free of class exploiters and oppressors along with their coercive instruments like the AFP.

It is precisely due to this just cause that the people’s democratic revolution will succeed. While the AFP rampages and pillages through communities using its brute strength, their political isolation due to fascist terrorism only turns more people to the revolution. The thousand threads that bind the NPA and the masses can only grow stronger as the US-Marcos II regime bares its fangs and brandishes its claws on the island. The NPA in Negros continues to enjoy the support of the broad masses because it is the cherished genuine army of the people.

Moreover, the AFP profits from its lies and on the top of the chain is Centino. Declaring guerrilla fronts as ‘dismantled’ and ‘weakened’ projects the AFP’s false victory, while corrupt generals and their minions balloon their pockets from surrender funds and bounties. Never mind looking foolish in launching sustained and massive focused military operations in areas of ‘dismantled’ and ‘weakened’ guerrilla fronts since fake armed encounters and prolonged military operations benefit their arms trade and plunder of operational funds, to the detriment of their foot soldiers.

The AFP makes itself laughable to say the least. The 47th IB’s arrival to augment the five Army battalions and special forces already on the island tells on who is weak and losing; who cannot handle so-called remnants of ‘weakened’ and ‘dismantled’ NPA guerrilla fronts. The AFP’s desperation to maintain its claim of “winning the peace” by exaggerating and fabricating encounters and consistently violating rules of war and international humanitarian law amid intensifying encounters all over Negros in the recent weeks expose the sheer ridiculousness of its self-imposed deadlines. As a result, the AFP continues to earn the ire of Negrosanons with its rapidly increasing human rights violations.

Can the AFP defeat the NPA in Negros Island this year or even within Centino’s term? The faces of AFP chiefs change and their tactics differ in magnitude and scale, but their tricks remain essentially the same—relentless attacks tainted with human rights violations. And, of course, the outcome is essentially the same: a revolution that cannot be defeated while its necessity remains.

It cannot be denied that the AFP has heightened its attacks against the revolutionary movement and the masses, however, the people’s war will remain steadfast. It is in this context that Red commanders and fighters should also strive to master intensive and extensive guerrilla warfare based on an ever-widening and ever-deepening mass base, to advance the people’s war to greater heights, to withstand and overwhelm difficulties, and to achieve victory.

Source : https://philippinerevolution.nu/statements/afp-cannot-defeat-the-npa-in-negros/