The recent tactical losses in Panay does not equate to the dismantling or dissolution of armed struggle in the island, according to the the New People’s Army (NPA) Central Panay Jose Percival Estocada Jr. Command. NPA-Central Panay made this statement to the bluster of the 3rd Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to make Panay island ‘insurgency-free’ by September 2024, and in the wake of death of 10 cadres and red fighters of the NPA in a series of incidents in the border area of 4 provinces of Panay Island in the Western Visayas.
Historically, all previous Chiefs of Staff of the AFP made the pronouncements to eliminate the NPA during their respective terms of office but ultimately failed. NPA guerilla fronts still exist in more than 70 provinces in all strategic areas in the Philippines today.
This is partly because the AFP follows the US counter-insurgency guide, acting like occupation forces with utter disregard to the welfare of the people in areas where they operate.
According to the NPA-Central Panay, “Terrorism and damage to the lives, livelihood, and peaceful existence of the people result from the influx of military troops in the mountainous areas of Central Panay, in their haste to ‘wipe out the revolutionary forces in 2024’. More than three battalions under the 3rd Infantry Division Philippine Army (3ID PA) with police forces and paramilitary units were deployed in villages in the border area of Capiz, Aklan, Iloilo, and Antique…”.
The food blockade and population control measures aggravate hunger and difficulties of the people in the area because August is “tiggurutom” or period of hunger when harvest from their crops were already exhausted and majority of them look for odd jobs in the farm or in the urban areas to make ends meet. The people have not even recovered yet from the impact of El Niño, said NPA-Central Panay in a statement.
NPA-Central Panay declared that while the martyred cadres and red fighters was a big loss to the movement, it cannot dismantle the armed revolutionary movement in Panay. On the contrary, it will serve to arouse further hatred of the reactionary state and steel their resolve to overcome difficulties in winning the war.
“The Party, NPA and the revolutionary masses salutes all the martyred casualties who serve as their inspiration to heighten the armed struggle against the terrorist US-Marcos Jr. Regime,” concluded NPA-Central Panay.
