All Negros NPA fronts dismantled – Army

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines —All five guerrilla fronts of the New People’s Army (NPA) on Negros Island have been declared dismantled by the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (3ID).

The remaining “weakened” guerrilla group, the South West Front of the NPA’s Komiteng Rehiyonal Negros/Cebu/Bohol/ Siquijor, has been added to the list of dismantled groups as of December, according to Lt. Col. J Jay Javines of the 3ID’s civic-military operations office.

Earlier, the Army demolished the NPA’s South East, Northern Negros, Central Negros 1 and Central Negros 2 fronts.

“The challenge now is how to prevent the remnants of the communist group from taking back their lost territories and recruiting new members,” Javines said.

He said the focused military operations being conducted in Barangay Cambayobo in Calatrava has resulted in an encounter between soldiers of the Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion and eight remnants of the North Negros Front on Monday.

Javinez said the military recovered a rifle and two 40mm rifle grenade explosives from the scene of the firefight.

The 3ID, under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, is targeting to declare Negros Island insurgency-free in the first quarter of this year.

With the dismantling of the guerrilla fronts, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said he expects the remaining rebels to show that they are still active and a force to reckon with.

Lacson is chairman of the Western Visayas peace and order council. He said troopers would continue to secure areas where the remaining rebels are hiding.

“Declaring a guerrilla front dismantled does not necessarily mean that the military will stop its operations against the remaining rebels,” Javines said.

Meanwhile, in Zamboanga del Norte, two NPA leaders have surrendered to the military in the town of Sergio Osmeña.

The surrender of Bebelin Labastida, alias Hill, and Matias Gaquit, alias Apyot, both deputy secretaries of the Guerrilla Front Sendong, prompted the Army to declare the rebel group demolished.

Labastida and Gaquit turned over an assault rifle to the Army’s 10th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Danao. — Roel Pareño