ZAMBOANGA CITY—A military official disclosed that the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines has changed its strategy to boost the number of its fighters and mass-based supporters.

Maj. Gamal Hayudini, chief of the Armed Forces’ 4th Civil Relations Group, disclosed that intelligence reports indicate that the NPA has shifted its recruitment from rural to urban areas in the different parts of the country.

Hayudini said the new modus operandi of the NPA is to lure young people including students and out-of-school youth into the movement through so-called “social programs” that are designed to make them dissatisfied with the government and the existing social order. 

“This is part of the NPA’s strategy in getting sympathizers in urban centers like this city,” Hayudini said, adding that government agents have already managed to infiltrate the ranks of the NPA recruiters.

Without mentioning any particular group, Hayudini said the focus of the NPA is to infiltrate activists’ groups in the different parts of Western Mindanao.

The military earlier said there are two NPA front committees, codenamed “Sendong” and “Joji,” that are operating in the region.

These are operating in the hinterlands of Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte, as well as Misamis Occidental.

Maj. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the Zamboanga del Sur-based First Infantry “ Tabak” Division, said the two NPA Front Committees only have a few fighters.

Hayudini said without elaborating that the Armed Forces has adopted a “proactive” stance to counter the new modus operandi of the NPA.

In Metro Manila the Armed Forces deployed civil-military operations detachments in depressed areas to prevent the recruitment of the urban poor by NPA rebels.

This was denounced by left-leaning groups who said the deployment of troops in depressed areas is the government’s way to militarize communities.

However, leaders of communities where troops were deployed welcomed the presence of the soldiers, noting that crime incidence significantly decreased in areas where soldiers were deployed.

The troops also repair school buildings and paved roads in the communities where they were deployed.

President Arroyo earlier gave the military up to 2010 to eliminate the NPA.

Vietnamese vessels ‘monitored in Spratlys but no violation committed’

THE Philippine Air Force (PAF) on Wednesday disclosed that it had monitored two cargo and eight naval vessels with Vietnamese markings in the Spratlys in January and March, but admitted that the foreign ships did not violate the Code of Conduct prevailing in the area.

IN an effort to resolve the impasse on the country’s baselines issue, Speaker Prospero Nograles will meet with members of the House foreign affairs committee and the heads of the parties composing the majority coalition hoping to come out with a formula on how to best resolve conflicting positions among the three branches of government.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—A military official disclosed that the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines has changed its strategy to boost the number of its fighters and mass-based supporters.

THE Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) condemned on Wednesday the arrest of 13 farmers and advocacy- group leaders in Jakarta, Indonesia, while they were observing protest actions both at the presidential palace and at the Ministry of Agriculture.

THE World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday urged governments to prioritize the effects of global warming in their health agenda as it warned that climate change may reverse whatever gains were achieved in fighting diseases due to poverty.

THE possibility of a presidential pardon for the nine military officers who were convicted on a coup case by the Regional Trial Court in Makati Tuesday is not remote especially if Malacañang considers the admission of their wrongdoing, the Armed Forces chief of staff said Wednesday.

HAD President Arroyo followed the propoor programs of former President Joseph Estrada, the country would not experience a rice crisis, San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor Ejercito said Wednesday.

Malacañang is resorting to another diversionary scheme to distract public attention from the increasing list of uncovered administration anomalies with President Arroyo herself insisting on Wednesday that “Senate investigations would not bring rice to the table” of hungry Filipinos.