AFP: 348 NPA rebels neutralized since January 2024

A total of 348 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels have been neutralized by the military from January 1 to March 7, 2024, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday. 

At a press briefing, the AFP spokesperson Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said of the total number, 301 rebels surrendered, 14 apprehended, and 33 were killed.

Meanwhile, 41 camps, 175 firearms, and 44 anti-personnel mines (APMs) were seized from the communist rebels during the same period.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which is still waging a protracted war in the Philippines. Theirs is considered as the longest running insurgency in Asia.

Last January, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said that the NPA no longer has an active guerilla front.
 
In November last year, the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF), which represents the CPP-NPA in the political arena, announced separately that both sides have agreed to resume the stalled peace negotiations after their representatives signed a joint statement for a “principled and peaceful resolution to the armed conflict.”

Marcos has offered amnesty to rebels, including former members of the CPP-NPA-NDF, to encourage rebels to return to the fold of the law. 

Meanwhile, Padilla, during the same briefing, said that from January to March 7 this year, 44 local terrorist group members were neutralized, broken down to 27 surrendered, one apprehended, and 16 killed. 

“A total of 44 firearms, four APMs, and five encampments of local terrorist groups were seized,” Padilla said. —KBK, GMA Integrated News