Apayao now free of communist rebels - military

The military on Monday claimed to have wiped out the communist rebels in Apayao province in northern Philippines. Capt. Adonis Bañez, spokesperson for the Army’s 5th Infantry Division, said they have already turned over to the provincial government and the local police the primary role in the conduct of internal security operations in the province. Bañez said the turnover was made Saturday following the signing of a memorandum of agreement among the 5th ID, the provincial police, and Gov. Elias Balut. The handover ceremony was done during the culmination of the 15th Apayao foundation anniversary, or the Say-am Festival 2010. "The activity symbolizes a joint declaration of all parties based from the parameters set forth that Apayao province is declared as an insurgency-free province," said Bañez. He added that this also means that the armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA), “had been decimated or non existent." President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed the military to defeat the NPA on or before her term ends in June 30 this year. Military estimates placed the NPA’s strength to more than 4,000 men from a peak of over 25,000 in the late 1980s. Bañez also said that Army forces would not be pulling out of the province but would only play a support role to internal security operations. “We are not abandoning or leaving the province but we are only shifting our focus or concentration for [internal security operations] in other areas," he said. - KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV