LEAVING the force this coming May 8 when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56, General Debold M. Sinas said he is sure they have succeeded in their effort to help the government win the war on terror and insurgency, the PNP being a major player in fighting lawless armed groups including the New People’s Army (NPA) and Southern Philippines-based terror organizations.

“We have intensified our campaign against terror groups specifically those in Eastern and Western Mindanao where we fully coordinate with the Armed Forces when we serve warrants of arrest against most wanted members of the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters,” the 25th PNP chief told the Journal Group.

In Metro Manila and the rest of the country, the PNP spearheaded by the PNP Intelligence Group headed by Brigadier Gen. Warren F. de Leon and the PNP Special Action Group under Major Gen. Bernabe M. Balba have also launched dozens of ‘intelligence-driven’ operations which led to the neutralization of some of the country’s most wanted NPA leaders and members and the seizure of dozens of NPA weapons, he said.

A series of PNP operations in Capiz and Iloilo provinces last year led to the arrest of 16 NPA members and the surrender of another. Nine others were killed in those operations. Last March, nine suspected NPA rebels were shot dead in simultaneous service of search warrants for illegal possession of firearms in Rizal province.

The PNP is a member of nine clusters of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict which was created when President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 70. The EO institutionalized the ‘whole-of-nation-approach’ in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace in the countryside by finally putting an end to the five-decades long communist insurgency.

Since then, the PNP, as a key player in synchronizing the efforts of the government to address the root causes of insurgency and armed conflict had already caused the surrender of hundreds of NPA members and supporters in the countryside.

Latest to yield to the PNP and the Armed Forces were 84 NPA members and supporters in Calabarzon region who officially turned themselves over to authorities in Antipolo City last Friday.

The 84 renounced their NPA membership and condemned the movement’s atrocities after declaring their oath of allegiance to the government and burning the CPP/NPA flags as a sign of their disgust to the armed group, the PNP chief said.

“This undertaking served as a proof of convergence of the government’s efforts or the impact of its approach combined with local peace initiatives evidenced by the nationwide influx of surrenders as well as a message of hope that there is life outside the communist network for the government will always welcome with open arms those returnees to the folds of the law,” he said.

Sinas said they are very active in the ELCAC programs and in coordination with the AFP have targeted loose firearms at the hands of wanted NPA members.

He cited programs such as the AKAP Kapatid of the Police Regional Office 6 headed by Brig. Gen. Rolando F. Miranda in which NPA surrenders undergo a five-day stress debriefing and get full assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority, the Department of Health and Department of Agriculture. The PNP chief said they plan to replicate the same program in Regions 4-A in Calabarzon

Sinas also mentioned the SIKAP or Sitio Kapayapaan project of the Police Regional Office 4-A in Calabarzon region headed by Brig. Gen. Felipe R. Natividad. He said that the project involves the construction of halfway houses for NPA rebel returnees in a donated one-hectare lot which is already being developed by the PRO4-A with the help of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

So far, the PRO4-A and the DPWH had already constructed a 1.3-kilometer-long road in the area leading to the main highway, he said.

Last year, the PNP International Engagement Cluster composed of police attaches also strengthened its diplomatic efforts to ensure that Filipinos overseas are not persuaded to join or support the NPA and their front organizations.

The PNP Legal Cooperation Cluster also focused on the legal offensive against NPA atrocities, referring 621 of them to the Prosecutor’s Office while the rest are still under investigation.

Of the cases referred to the Prosecutor’s Office, six cases are still under preliminary investigation, 304 are pending for resolution while 42 were dismissed for lack of probable cause. Of the 269 cases filed in court, seven cases have already led to conviction as of December 31 last year.

A PNP report said that last year, a total of 3,769 NPA personalities, 468 of them included in the Periodic Status Report were neutralized by the PNP and other law enforcement agencies. Of the total number, 345 surrendered, 90 were arrested while 33 were killed in shootouts.

In support to the NTF-ELCAC, the PNP last year neutralized 12.27 percent of the target NPA personalities, one of them Leonardo Nabong who carried a P6.1 million bounty.