The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) both indicated yesterday their goals, indicating that battle between state and rebel troops will remain fierce this year.

The AFP said it will focus on defeating the CPP-New People’s Army (NPA) while, on the other hand, the rebels said their priority this year will be the ouster of President Rodrigo Duterte.

AFP chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. said, through Executive Order (EO) 70, the military will exert efforts to pursue the course of peace that the Commander-in-Chief envisions for the country.

Madrigal said various government agencies and stakeholders are continuously holding meetings to craft the mechanism for the “whole of nation” approach to ending insurgency.

Mr. Duterte issued EO 70 on 4 December 2018 that created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict to ensure the provision of social services, employment opportunities and improved quality of life in communities experiencing or are vulnerable to armed communist conflict.

“Our focus is, of course, peace, target the CPP-NPA and to support the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict,” Madrigal said.

“We are continuously holding meetings to establish the mechanism, operationalize the task force because, other than being enemy-centered, we also have a people-centered strategy to make our communities conflict resilient,” he added.

Madrigal maintained the AFP is fully-supportive of all the peace initiatives of the Duterte administration.

The task force is authorized to hold local peace talks with rebel groups – which is believed to be the more effective way of encouraging communist fighters to return to the fold of the law.”

Rebels thin out The AFP reported a huge number of rebel returnees in 2018, citing the all-out assistance being afforded by the Duterte administration to them.

On the other hand, the CPP-NPA’s top priority remains to be the ouster of Mr. Duterte despite claiming its openness to talk peace with the government.

In a statement, CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison said while the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is open to peace negotiations, it is not the priority to the rebel group.

“The NDFP is authorized to be open to peace negotiations with the current and prospective regime of the reactionary government, but its principal work now is to work for the ouster of the Duterte regime,” Sison said.

No let up Mr. Duterte canceled the peace negotiations with the NDFP following unabated atrocities by the NPA despite the talks. Sison vowed more attacks coming from the NPA this year.

Madrigal cited the need for the “whole-of-nation” approach in defeating the insurgency problem.

“We have gained headway in addressing the armed conflict… but in getting the complete victory, we need to make our communities conflict resilient and in this we need all the other agencies like the local government units,” Madrigal said.

“Ending insurgency depends on how the people, the local governments and the rest of the society will help us,” he added.

Last year, different terror attacks resulted in many civilian casualties.