Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 3)— The number of active communist guerilla fronts in the country today is down to five from as many as 89 at the start of the Duterte administration in 2016, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Thursday.
In a virtual press conference following an executive meeting of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, the AFP chief of staff, said the active communist armed groups are based in Northern Samar and South Cotabato.
He said there were also 19 other communist guerrila fronts that security forces are pursuing but they are “already weakened.”
Bacarro added that he expects them to be “dismantled at the soonest possible time,” especially since there are only around 2,112 rebels holding arms.
“So we’re only left with five guerrilla fronts right now,” he said. “So that is the challenge we have right now: addressing the five guerrilla fronts.”
Communist rebel forces in the country have been fighting for over five decades, making it one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies.
Meanwhile, Deputy Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Isidro Purisima urged the Senate to provide its concurrence to Presidential Proclamation 1093 issued by former President Rodrigo Duterte, which grants amnesty to members of communist groups.
During the Duterte administration, the Senate only adopted House Concurrent Resolutions Nos. 12, 13, and 14, which granted amnesty to members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPMP-RPA-ABB), respectively.
