By Cesar Jolito III and Julius Mariveles
CAMP PERALTA, Jamindan, Capiz – Philippine Communists have become like a James Dean movie or, as philosophers would say it, have lost their raison d’ etre as they continue to slide into irrelevance with their leaders fighting only for “personal interests,” the commanding general of the country’s Army said as the spokesman of the inter-agency anti-Communist council in the region said money is “the only thing keeping them afloat.”
“They have lost their cause because of good government,” Lieutenant General Roy Galido said as he credited the End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) with the gains made against the half a century Communist rebellion that has led to the countless loss of lives and property.
Galido, who spoke to reporters here on the sidelines of the Third Infantry Division’s 50th anniversary ceremony where he was guest of honor and speaker, also said the Communist movement continues to exist possibly because of the “personal interests” of its leaders.
The ELCAC, an offshoot of then President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 70, refocused the counterinsurgency campaign through a whole of nation and whole of government approach that aimed to blend the efforts of government agencies and private stakeholders against the Communist Party’s rebellion.
The Division’s anniversary came as Army units in Negros island continue to battle armed remnants, killing two on the battlefield and seizing two assault rifles in the same number of days in two Negros Occidental towns.
The 62nd Infantry Battalion first scored in Tuesday, 21 May 2024, as it clashed with survivors of the defunct Central Negros Front 1 in the mountain village of Quintin Remo in Moises Padilla town.
On the eve of its anniversary, 22 May 2024, the 79th Infantry Battalion and the National Police Third Mobile Force Company initiated a clash with remnants of the dismantled Northern Negros Front in another upland community, Cambayobo, in Toboso town.
Troops seized two M16 assault rifles, one each in both clashes, and a revolver from the clash site in Moises Padilla.
Galido also headed the awarding of merit medals and achievement streamersto Army soldiers and fighting units while Division commander, Major General Marion Sison, headed early morning rites in honor of its dead troopers.
Galido also said focus will be given to operations against institutions believed to be financing the terror operations of the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, as the Joint Task Group Cebu under the 302nd Infantry Brigade headed by Brigadier General Joey Escanillas scored a first in the ampaign against terrorist financing.
This developed after a court ordered the arrest of 27 personalities linked to non profit Community Empowerment and Resource Network (CERNET) that had allegedly been financing terror operations of the NPA.
Meanwhile, lawyer Flosemer Chris Gonzales, spokesman of the Region 6 End Local Communist Armed Conflict Council who also heads its Legal Cooperation Ckuster, told DNX the Communists will “fight tooth and nail” to save its various NGOs as he gave the assurance that the government will do everything it can to shut down the operations of these institutions.
“They will do everything to keep their money because that is the only thing keeping them afloat,” Gonzales said.
