David sets new 3-year deadline to crush communist rebels

Newly-installed Philippine military chief Lt. Gen. Ricardo David on Friday set a new two to three-year deadline to crush the communist insurgency in the Philippines. David, who assumed the military chief post from acting chief of staff Lt. Gen. Nestor Ochoa, said the AFP hopes to attain this goal by securing additional military funds and increasing the AFP's manpower. "We shall have an increase of troops. We will have focus in some areas so we can have strategic accomplishments toward the end of... We have a two to three-year self-imposed [deadline] to end insurgencies," he said. David, in a press conference after the change-of-command ceremonies at Camp Aguinaldo, said the deadline will cover the eradication of both insurgent and terrorist elements in the Philippines. "This is only my thinking. I think within three years, we can at least say that we will be wining this terrorist campaigns and insurgency," he added.

Earlier during his assumption speech, David said: "The focus of our internal security efforts shall be the decimation of the terrorist groups who remain to be most imminent threat to our internal peace and security. At the same time, as advocates of peace, we shall observe the primacy of the peace processes. However, this does not mean being complacent. We shall remain vigilant, ready to protect the people from atrocities committed under the white flag of truce or upon the breakdown of peace talks." "There is no more reason to delay the achievement of lasting peace," David said at the press conference. Besides the communist rebels, the Philippines is also battling secessionist and extremist forces in southern Philippines. June 2010 deadline In June 2006, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the military and police to crush the communist insurgency by the time she ends her term on June 30, 2010. At the time, the strength of the New People's Army (NPA) was placed at about 7,000 fighters. But two months before the deadline, then military chief Gen. Delfin Bangit admitted that the military won't be able to comply with the directive. As of the first quarter of this year, authorities estimate the strength of the NPA to be around 4,700 still. The NPA had its peak of about 25,000 fighters during the presidency of the late Corazon Aquino, Noynoy's mother. As of this posting, the Aquino administration has yet to announce when peace negotiations with the mainstream communist group will resume. Meanwhile, David stressed that under his leadership, the AFP will intensify efforts in protecting human rights of the people and abiding by the Internation Humanitarian Law. "Modernization will continue particularly in the traning to exercise the protection of human rights," he said. David also urged lawmakers to support legislations, if needed, to augment funding for the AFP, saying he would use a large sum of the military budget to buy "air assets" like additional helicopters for improved disaster response capabilities. "If it needs legislation, Congress should pass it because this is a priority project of the President," he said, adding however he still does not know the exact amount of additional budget that the AFP needs. "I do not know the intricacies yet," David said. — Mark D. Merueñas / RJAB Jr./RSJ, GMANews.TV