The anti-insurgency campaign under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has considerably weakened the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), according to a national security official.
National Security Council (NSC) Assistant Director-General Jonathan Malaya told a Quezon City news forum that although the (CPP-NPA-NDF) has waned, they are still capable of sowing chaos and disorder.
“In terms of threats sa ating bansa, the threat of the CPP-NPA-NDF is waning but it cannot yet be discounted. If you will remember, there has been several encounters in the past – few weeks ‘no may incident na tayo sa Abra, mayroon tayong insidente sa Camarines Sur, there was an incident yesterday or the other day in Albay,” Malaya said.
“So even if we have remaining nine weakened guerilla fronts, there are remnants that can still create problems in geographically isolated areas. But, as a threat to the established order or a threat to the democratic system of the Philippines, they are no longer a threat because they have been strategically defeated last year or the other year,” he stated.
Malaya, however, said CPP-NPA’s aboveground organizations are now harping on similar themes from the propagandists, apologists, and fearmongers in the great power competition in the West Philippine Sea issue.
These leftist groups are now saying that the Philippines’ actions in the WPS are a provocation, and the Balikatan military exercises and the deployment of troops in the Ayungin Shoal is provoking China.
“So, in that sense, they continue to be a national security threat because that in essence, supports the argument of China. It supports the arguments of China that it is the Philippines that is provoking and creating tensions in the West Philippine Sea,” Malaya said.
“I asked this left people, itong mga nasa aboveground organizations – whose side are you really on? Kasi magkaalaman na tayo ngayon, sabihin na nila kung pro-China sila or hindi. Kasi from our standpoint in the National Security Council, they are now siding with China,” he added.
The NSC official expressed disappointment and surprise that the groups who patriotically support the country “are now taking the bait” and supporting China’s argument with regard the WPS. PND
