President Duterte wants to end the communist insurgency in less than three years of his term, the reason why he ordered government agencies to step the implementation of strategies to put finally lick the problem on the New People’s Army in the countryside.
Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, spokesman of the Philippine National Police, said the President was particularly interested on the rising number of communist rebels who surrendered to the government.
“The President does not want to pass the problem on communist insurgency to the next administration,” said Banac. “That is why he is very serious in making sure that all the strategies are properly implemented to end it. And we share this goal because imagine it is already five decades,” he added.
Banac said the President appears to be satisfied with the outcome of the aggressive campaign to end communist insurgency, particularly in the aspect of localized peace talks.
The localized peace talks, he said, led to the surrender of thousands of communist rebels since it started when the peace talks bogged down anew under the Duterte administration.
Banac attributed the success to the cooperation of all government agencies. “Unlike before, even local government units are now actively making their share to ensure the success of the localized peace talks,” said Banac. (Aaron Recuenco)
