The Armed Forces of the Philippines sees the Communist Party of the Philippines' declaration of unilateral ceasefire "meaningless" as the group has no hold on the New People's Army's operatives on the ground.
AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar, speaking at the Bagong Pilipinas public briefing on Tuesday, said the entire organization of the CPP-NPA and its political, National Democratic Front of the Philippines, seemed to be headless.
Thus, Aguilar said any remarks coming from the central committee are considered "empty statements."
"It's actually meaningless for various reasons. Number one, the CPP-NPA-NDF doesn't have a direct leadership at the national level," Aguilar said in a mix of Filipino and English.
"So we are wondering why the central committee can still issue such a statement when they are already scattered," Aguilar added, pertaining to the CPP's issuance of a unilateral ceasefire from 25 to 26 December.
The military mouthpiece insisted that the communist armed wing is already weakened, saying the CPP-NPA-NDF is not capable of launching launch high level of atrocities or hostile actions due to the continuous surrendering of their armed members nationwide.
At least 3,400 NPA rebels have surrendered to the government troops from January to November this year, said Aguilar.
While 95 percent of the CPP-NPA's guerrilla personalities were neutralized during the encounters.
The military forces had also recovered high-powered firearms and improvised explosive devices, making the NPA rebels more weakened.
"They are no longer able to perform their mission which is to recruit new members and generate resources and they don't have a mass base already, not even getting support from the communities," said Aguilar.
He noted that the CPP-NPA-NDF's extortions and intimidations within their infiltrated communities are also "insignificant" nowadays.
"The truth is, their forces are already decimated, they are already scattered and they are weakened. The CPP-NPA lost their capacities," he said.
