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BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya: Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro
disclosed on Wednesday that the CPP-NPA revolutionary movement has
weakened and that its armed members are thinning in number.
During a press conference here where Teodoro was
guest speaker during the Panagyaman tribal festival, Teodoro claimed
that the insurgents have resorted to burning establishments and rice
delivery trucks in desperation.
He said the communist ideology itself failed in
countries like the USSR, and Filipinos can now see that this
ideology cannot promise a better future.
“The people couldn’t simply understand
annihilation as the answer to all current problems. The normal
Filipino would say to the rebels, ‘tumigil na kayo!’ [just stop
it, will you!],” said the Defense Secretary.
He said the only constraint that the government
has now in order to totally eradicate insurgency is lack of
resources. “That is why we are using careful intelligence and
careful operations to cause the least damage to the community,” he
continued.
Meantime, Brig. Gen. Melchor Javier Dilodilo,
commanding general of the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine
Army said the insurgency situation in Cagayan Valley and its
neighbors are “under control.” He said the Army has pacified to
a certain degree activities of all the rebel fronts existing in the
region.
-- Gene Basilio
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