NPA imposing ‘permit to campaign’ during polls irrelevant, says Año

National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said Friday that the imposition of a “permit to campaign” by the New People’s Army in their infiltrated areas is already an irrelevant issue concerning the midterm elections.

Año stressed that the NPA’s scourge of their exploitation is no longer an issue as their weakened guerrilla fronts have already declined to only five.

“For the next election in 2025, I don't think it's going to be an issue with the very minimal presence now of the NPA,” Ano said.

He also urged the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to secure the upcoming parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) next year.

“Our primary concern is the next election in the BARMM. We might be putting more troops into BARMM areas just to ensure that, because this is their first BARMM parliamentary election -- there’s a problem of stability," he said.

Año, meanwhile, said that the NPA as the armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), has already been decimated in all its politico-military spectrum capabilities.