• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
From having 258 combatants in 2019, the New People’s Army (NPA) now has only 33 fighters in Negros Occidental, said Brig. Gen. Orlando Edralin, commander of the Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (IB), yesterday.
Based on the joint Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police community evaluation, the NPA’s three dismantled guerilla fronts, including its Regional Strike Force (RSF), have 49 firearms left.
The recent encounters involving the 79th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Pinapugasan, Escalante City, Negros Occidental, left three rebels dead and resulted in the recovery of 16 high- powered firearms.
Each of the three dismantled guerilla fronts, including the Northern Negros Front (NNF), Central Negros 1 and Central Negros (CN) 2, in the area of operations of 303IB have now a squad size unit, composed of about eight persons.
Edralin said that the RSF augments remnants of the three dismantled guerilla fronts to make it appear that they have still the numbers.
The 303IB supervises the 79th, 62nd and 94th Infantry Battalions, which are responsible for dismantling the NNF, CN1 and CN2 guerilla fronts.
The 302nd Infantry Brigade, which supervises the 11th, 15th and 47th Infantry Battalions, is tasked to prevent the consolidation efforts of the dismantled Bohol Party Committee in Bohol, South East Front and South West Front of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Negros/Cebu/Bohol/Siquijor (KR-NCBS).
The KR-NCBS has been suffering a leadership vacuum since last year, following the death of its top regional leaders, including Ramon Posadas and Romeo Nanta.
Edralin said that the NPA, as part of its consolidation effort, is recruiting again inactive comrades and minors.
He admitted that the 303IB is facing challenges in locating rebel remnants, which have further splintered into groups of three to avoid detection.
However, they are also approaching the relatives and friends of the NPA rebels and further collaborating with government agencies, particularly the local chief executives, to convince them to surrender through local peace engagements. | GB
