Oris said OBL was supposed to end by June next year. But he said the AFP has already unleashed its largest military operation in the last quarter of 2009 without much impact on the revolutionary forces. “With election time around, their (the military’s) preoccupation would be protecting their political patrons,” Oris said.
“We have prevailed despite the Arroyo administration’s OBL, now in its ninth year,” he said.
He also dismissed retired Army General Jovito Palparan’s statements against NPAs as “mere bravado.”
Palparan has been accused of being the “notorious operative behind OBL,” which led to the liquidation of unarmed leaders and members of progressive organizations in many areas where he was assigned. He is running for the Senate and announced in December that he would concentrate his campaign in Davao City.
AFP spokespersons have identified Southern Mindanao as one “hotbed of insurgency.”
Palparan said the “insurgents” have made a headway in this part of the country, partly blaming Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for “alleged ties with communists.”
Ka Maria Malaya, the spokesperson of the National Democratic Front in northeastern Mindanao. (davaotoday.com photo by Jose Hernani)
But Palparan’s declaration was dismissed by Oris as mere bravado.
“If the saturation drives of maneuver battalions of the enemies have miserably failed in destroying the fronts in Southern Mindanao, in Mindanao, and in the whole country at that, how can Palparan ever do it?” he asked.
“He (Palparan) only succeeded in killing the unarmed leaders and members of progressive organizations,” Oris said.
Oris dared Palparan to put back his army uniform and launch operations in Mindanao.
Ka Oris said the five regions in Mindanao have stood firm under the OBL. In fact, he said, revolutionary forces even managed to grow by five percent every year in the last two years.
He said that the NPA mass base in the entire island has increased. “The Red Army has become stronger, their tactical offensives more frequent. More firearms were confiscated from enemy hands this year compared to last year’s count of 200,” he said.
Oris placed the ratio of enemy casualties at 10 for every two NPA fighters killed in battle, debunking claims by Philippine military leaders of 79 for every one AFP soldier killed in battle.
According to Oris, “the AFP included in their count the civilians, the unarmed, that they brutally killed in the course of the OBL campaign.”
He said more members of the Armed Forces, the Philippine National Police and its paramilitary arm Citizens Auxilliary Forces Geographic Unit (Cafgu) were taken by the NPA as “prisoners of war” last year.
Oris also said the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) “has grown and spread throughout Mindanao.”
“The masses, despite being victimized by state security agents working under the directive of the OBL, have become even more determined,” he said. “In the face of these attacks, the unity between the Red Army and the people has deepened even more.”
