Davao City – The 53-year armed struggle of the New People’s Army (NPA) has come to an end, an official from the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said here Tuesday.
Presidential Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, the NTF-ELCAC spokesperson for sectoral concerns, also said this year’s anniversary of the NPA signified “loud and clear” that the communist armed group is “finished and beaten.”
Badoy, who graced the “Celebration of Peace and Freedom for Former Rebels (FR),” said she was elated as she saw more than a thousand ex-NPA fighters who have returned to the fold of the law.
“This is the real face of peace as they (FRs) are now one with the government. They are part of the rebuilding of the nation that was destroyed by the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army- National Democratic Front), and these are lives that are no longer being destroyed by the communist group,” she said in an interview.
With the government’s success against the communist insurgency, Badoy said a new chapter has opened for the country, “one that is full of hope, peace, and free from the lies and deception” of the communist group.
Gov’t interventions
Badoy admitted that solving insurgency is an ongoing process.
However, she vowed the government will have a direct engagement with the FRs and assured them of a ‘whole of nation’ intervention.
“We should build museums, and our curriculum must be changed. I agree with Mayor Inday Duterte, we should build something for our children, the mandatory national service so that the youth would know that they can help the country,” she added.
For the continuing programs for peace, Badoy also hopes for the institutionalization of the NTF-ELCAC.
“It’s just the start of a journey of a thousand steps. If they end the NTF-ELCAC, the insurgency will come back. The programs are so beautiful like the Barangay Development Program, ” she said.
Reject CPP-NPA
Jong Monzon, the former secretary-general of the “Pasakaday Salugpongan Kalimodan” (PASAKA), thanked the government for accepting his surrender.
“I have been in the armed group for a decade. I thanked all of you (fellow FRs) for choosing the right direction. Let us help our government,” Monzon said.
He also urged the remaining NPA members to surrender and “leave the world of hunger, fatigue, and lies.”
“We thank the programs of the NTF-ELCAC, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Philippine National Police for giving us a chance of hope,” Monson said.
Monzon recounted that he was afraid to surrender, for he was told that the military will torture him and he will be arrested and locked in jail.
“Now that I am here, I have proven that it’s all lies. Let us serve the people along with our government and serve them with no fear,” Monson added.
Meanwhile, Evangelyn Superales alias Maggie, former medical officer of the NPA and a student of Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Incorporated (MISFI), urged the youth to listen to their parents and avoid the deception of the NPA’s front organizations.
“Avoid the recruitment of the NPA and listen to your parents. We all hope for peace and serve the people,” she said.
The Communist Party of the Philippines – NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The National Democratic Front (NDF) has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973. (Che Palicte)
(Source: Philippine News Agency)