UNPOPULAR OPINION | Is the New People’s Army Still an Army?

Art by A. Evangelista

In his recent State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared that there are no more New People’s Army (NPA) guerrilla fronts in the country. The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the Philippine Army also affirmed this statement.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was quick to react through its National Propaganda Commission’s Chief Information Officer, Marco Valbuena, claiming that the declaration was an “utter farcical” and that NPA fighters were only “reorganized and redeployed” to supposedly “deepen and widen their roots among the people.”

For those in the know (read: former rebels), this implies that there are still remaining NPA guerrillas, though now too few and scattered that they need to regroup and shift from their traditional bases. As for “deepening and widening roots among the people,” it is euphemism for “the masses don’t like us very much anymore.”

The Philippine Army said that the President’s declaration is grounded on: (1) NPA armed units have been neutralized or have withdrawn; (2) their political-military infrastructure has collapsed; (3) they have lost mass base support; (4) they have been denied access to former guerrilla zones; and (5) government services are now fully operational in those communities.

Without these, the NPA ceases to be a functioning guerrilla force. What’s left are scattered, leaderless clusters—lurking in the shadows, surviving without strategy, without support, and without territory. As Colonel Dema-ala puts it: “We now treat them as bandits, not insurgents.”

Recent encounters in Quezon, Occidental Mindoro, and Samar do not—contrary to what the CPP would have anyone believe—prove that they still have the capability to fight. In fact, all these encounters, in their own parlance, are actually “defensive actions.” Even the recent surrenders, such as in Misamis Oriental, involve only these “remnants.”

So, even if the CPP insists that the NPA is still strong, what becomes of an army that cannot fulfil its mandate?

The CPP tasked the NPA first with army building (to recruit guerrilla fighters and conduct tactical offensives); secondly with mass base building (to establish organs of political power in the countryside); and lastly with mobilizing the revolutionary mass movement (to implement agrarian revolution).

But looking at the scorecard, the so-called “army of the poor” has not fared well in recent months—well, the past few years, to be honest. In July, for example, the CPP’s publication Ang Bayan reported only three “victories,” all against soft targets. These include an ambush on patrolling police in Oriental Mindoro, the killing of an alleged intelligence asset in Negros Oriental, and the murder of a former Revolutionary Proletarian Army member in Negros Occidental.

Not one was against military forces actively hunting them down. Not one demonstrated the capabilities of an army.

Their mass base? Now replaced by legitimate people’s organizations made up of former rebels who now choose peace. Leading them is Buklod Kapayapaan, the national federation of former rebel people’s organizations, with presence all over the country. They are unified by their shared experiences as former members of the CPP-NPA-NDFP and in their goal to promote peace and development in the countryside. They aim to change the lives of the Filipino people without resorting to armed conflict.

The final nail in the coffin? The people are winning without the NPA. For decades, the Party clung to the belief that mass movements could only succeed under its guidance. Today, former NPA cadres are proving them wrong, leading their communities to economic gains through cooperatives and land reform benefits. Politically, former rebels, through their organizations, strive to hold space in policymaking, consultancy, and advocacy, shaping change from within the system they once fought.

An “army” that cannot build forces, has no mass base, and fails in its supposed political and revolutionary work is no army at all. It is a ragtag band firing sporadic shots into the air, pretending the echoes are the sound of victory.

The CPP can hold on to its slogans and illusions, but it is the only one that still considers the NPA an “army of the people.” The masses have moved on. Without water, fish die—and no amount of propaganda can fill the pond again.