Think of new ways to fight threat groups, Marcos tells Armed Forces of the Philippines

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to “reconfigure its approach” in dealing with different threat groups in order “to be more effective,” AFP chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said.

The President said there were no more active guerrilla fronts of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). But the CPP dismissed that claim, saying Mr. Marcos “is in dreamland.”

Talking about President

Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’ s first command conference this year, Brawner said in a news conference: “For his guidance, the president said that we needed to reconfigure our approaches dealing with different threat groups.”

The AFP is dealing with various threats, including communist rebels, terrorists, and the dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea.

“We have to think of new ways in dealing with them, i nnovative ways… When dealing with these threats, [the President] said we need to invoke a whole of nation approach, we need the support of our citizens and the support of our international allies and partners,” Brawner added.

But he said Marcos did not give any particular orders regarding the West Philippine Sea not to micromanage the military.

“He said in his previous speeches that there will be a paradigm shift, but he did not give any specifics because he mentioned that he doesn’t want to micromanage,” the military chief said.

‘Weakened’ NPA fronts

Despite the president’s earlier assertion on Saturday,

Brawner said there were still 11 NPA guerrilla fronts with an estimated total of 1,500 fighters, although these fronts have been “weakened.”

The military defines a weakened guerrilla front as being no longer able to recruit new cadres and boost its resources for its armed struggle.

“Even if we were able to decrease the number of guerrilla fronts, there are still NPA formations out there. They’re trying to recover the areas that they have lost,” Brawner said.

Commenting on Marcos’ remarks, CPP spokesperson Marco Valbuena, in a statement on Sunday, said: “Marcos Jr. is in dreamland when he claims there are no more active NPA guerrilla fronts. In truth, the NPA remains active in 14 regional commands across the country, each with a number of guerrilla fronts.”

Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr., executive director of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, had also said earlier this month that there were 14 NPA guerrilla fronts still operating.

from the nonexistent firms. The 459 aliens, however, may just be the “tip of the iceberg” as there could be “a thousand or more” foreigners who were issued work visas using nonexistent local companies, he admitted.

On Tuesday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he had ordered an investigation into the bureau’s issuance of visas to foreign nationals supposedly working for local companies that turned out to be fake.

According to Remulla, the visa applications of over 500 firms were approved by the BI’s legal

department “hook, line and sinker” without verifying first whether they were registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III lauded Remulla f or i mmediate l y ordering an investigation into the modus, which was similar to the multibillion-peso “pastillas” scam that fellow opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros exposed in 2020.

Crackdown must go on

“The DOJ must continue its job in cracking down on this corrupt scheme because our society will be at risk with the entry of undesirable aliens,” Pimentel told reporters in a news briefing on Wednesday.

Besides undermining national security, the entry of undocumented foreigners also puts additional strain on local enforcement agencies, the senator added.

Hontiveros, who chairs the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, said she would conduct an inquiry into the issue, saying that she had also received information that the same scheme was used in securing work visas for foreigners working in Philippine offshore gaming operators or Pogos.

Almost four years after bringing to light the “pastillas” scheme, she said it seemed the bureau has failed to institutionalize reforms to weed out corruption involving its personnel.