THE leftist New People’s Army (NPA) is losing its grip on Samar province amid unrelenting military operations and dwindling mass support, according to a ranking Philippine Army official.

Maj. Gen. Gerardo Layug, commander of Eighth Infantry Division (ID), disclosed on Wednesday that the rebels abandoned their camps in the municipalities of Matuguinao and Lope de Vega, both in Samar.

The abandoned NPA camps in Matuguinao, Samar symbolizes that the NPA is suffering a so-called social pressure not only by the pursuing military troops but primarily the lack of support from its former mass base in the area,” Layug said.

Both camps were found abandoned on November 5 by the Army’s Bayanihan teams from the 63rd and 20th Infantry Battalions, respectively.

Samar, along with Negros provinces of Davao, Caraga and Bicol regions, is among the NPA-infested areas in the country.

The abandoned NPA camps have makeshift bunkers, advance posts, kitchen halls and comfort rooms that can accommodate 30 to 40 red warriors.

Capt. Gene Orense, spokesman of Eighth ID, also disclosed that on November 2, the Bayanihan teams of the 63rd IB likewise seized an enemy encampment after a 30-minute firefight in Brgy. Inubod in Matuguinao.

For the 3rd quarter of this year alone, Orense said that the Eighth ID has recovered a total of 30 NPA camps in Samar Island.

But the Army’s achievement, Orense pointed out, was not without setback as four soldiers were killed and two others were injured in an encounter with NPAs on October 21 in Brgy. Ramon in the municipality of Gandara.

Despite several setbacks in the hands of the NPAs, the Armed Forces of the Philippines maintained that its new anti-insurgency strategy, the Internal Peace and Security Plan Bayanihan, is winning the hearts and minds of the people.

In fact, it said that 24 provinces have already been declared as “insurgency-free.” They are Ifugao, Aklan, Apayao, Kalinga, Nueva Viscaya, Quirino, Nueva Ecija, Aurora, Biliran, Cebu, Bohol, Camiguin, Misamis Oriental, South Cotabato, La Union, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Cavite, Marinduque, Romblon, Guimaras, Siquijor, and northern and southern Leyte.