8ID: Campaign vs NPA in Eastern Visayas “a success”

By JOEY A. GABIETA
LSDE Staff writer
1/10/10

TACLOBAN CITY — The campaign of government troops in the region against members of the rebel group New People’s Army achieved a level of success which would be maintained this year until the insurgents are completely wiped out.

So said Lieutenant Colonel Armand Rico, information officer of the 8th Infantry Division, who added that their anti-insurgency campaign last year resulted to substantial gains.

Rico said that the 70 government-initiated engagements against the rebels had resulted to the death of 12 NPA members and the capture of 26 others.

“It also resulted to the surrender of 159 NPA members and the recovery of 145 assorted firearms from the enemy side,” the spokesperson of the 8th ID, which is under the command of Major General Arthur Tabaquero, said.

He also said that from the previous 14 guerilla fronts of the rebel group, there are now only two which exist in Northern Samar. Last year, their military operations have also yielded to the discovery and recovery of 28 camps of the rebel group, Rico added.

The information officer of the 8th ID also said that last year, around 140 villages, mostly in the Samar provinces were declared as “free” from insurgents.

“We can say that our anti-insurgency campaign was a success,” Rico said.

Insurgency problem in the region has been identified as one of the reasons why Eastern Visayas remains poor as investors and tourists shy away from the region.

President Macapagal Arroyo had earlier ordered the government troops to quell the problem by the year but Army officials in the region had admitted that totally ending the problem could not be attained.

However, their goal to reduce the group into an “inconsequential level” could be achieved.

Rico said that based on their intelligence information; there are less than 500 members of the rebel group who are mostly in Samar provinces.

The military official said that for this year, their campaign against the insurgents would continue until they achieve their goal.

He, however, was quick to say that aside from their military operations, they would providing basic services and projects to the people living in remote villages as part of their campaign against insurgency.

The Philippine Army, through its engineering battalions, are engaging in various projects like construction of farm-to-market roads, water system, health centers, school buildings and even electrification under its “Kalayaan sa Barangay Project.”

“We will enhance our territorial defense system and our community works as part of our campaign against the rebels here in the region” Rico said.

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