NPAs desperate, condemnable: DND

This was the reaction yesterday of Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro to the announcement by the New People's Army of stepped-up attacks against government targets and business firms in the countryside on the eve of their 39th founding anniversary last Saturday.

"This already borders on terrorism and bordering on terrorism is highly condemnable because the ideology behind it is very questionable...The more they are weakened, the more desperate they become," Teodoro told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo. "The statement that they will intensify attacks, specifically against businesses, to me, is a function of their thinking and their mentality which is really adverse to the national interest and I condemn that kind of thinking. For an organization to espouse such kind of thinking is to be condemned to the highest degree."

Military estimates the number of NPAs at around 5,700 as of end 2007, with 87 guerrilla fronts throughout the country. The NPA, on the other hand, claim it has 120 to 130 fronts at present and is being urged by its political arm, the Communist Party of the Philippines, to increase these to 173 to cover all congressional districts in the provinces.

Teodoro did not bother to question the NPA's capability to wage the promised attacks, saying it's "quite easy" to inflict damage on any establishment. He said the general plan of the AFP's anti-insurgency campaign is to guard specific communities and for commanders in certain areas to factor in the latest threats to their preparations.

"We have to guard against that (threat). Desperation you know conjures up more violent or more vile forms of reactions sometimes and we have to really guard against such eventualities. So at this point, given that kind of a statement by the NPA, we enjoin vigilance on the part of business establishments to be more security conscious and aware of their surroundings," he added.

But Senior Supt. Nelson Bartolome, PNP spokesman, downplayed the NPA's capabilities, saying its failure to launch the promised attacks reflects its growing weakness. "No NPA attacks have been recorded on the day of the anniversary of the rebels. Medyo mahina na ang kanilang puwersa as compared to its past anniversaries which were marked with attacks," Bartolome said.

The PNP went on nationwide full alert status early Friday night and has remained on full alert as a standard operating procedure after President Arroyo left fro Hong Kong Sunday afternoon.

Bartolome attributed the diminishing NPA strength to the relentless anti-insurgency campaign of government troops. He said there are plans by the military to turn over to PNP custody some areas previously infested by rebels to free the soldiers for other insurgent areas.