AFP vows to exhaust all means vs. Reds

Following the remark of President Rodrigo Duterte that communist insurgency has to end soon, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Marine Brigadier General Edgard Arevalo on Friday vowed that the military is devoted in ending communist insurgency in the Philippines.

In a statement, Arevalo said the military has assessed the remaining challenges security forces need to address in curbing the hostilities committed by communist groups as well as maintaining peace and development in countryside.

"We will exhaust all means available—lethal and non-lethal— to hit the enemy and hit them hard," Arevalo said.

"We will employ the different lines of efforts with other agencies of government address or help alleviate the identified social issues that the NPA (New People's Army) capitalizes," he added.

According to Arevalo, the number of NPA continues to decline, noting the latest arrest of a high-ranking communist leader Esterlita Suaybaguio Espinosa in a condominium in Cubao, Quezon City early this week.

The Chief Executive has said the decades-old insurgency problem should not be inherited by the future generations of Filipinos.

With that, the AFP spokesman underscored the need to stop NPA recruitment among youth in schools, in IP communities and in other areas of the country.

"Together, in a whole of nation/whole of government passion, we are confident we will decisively defeat the terrorist CPP-NPA during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte," Arevalo said.

"We have the upper hand we just have to maintain the initiative and sustain the gains," he added.

The Communist Party of the Philippines was established on December 26, 1968. Its armed wing, the New People's Army, was formed March 29 the following year. —  Anna Felicia Bajo/RSJ, GMA News