Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army Case Study

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Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army (CPP/NPA)

This paper discusses the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army (CPP/NPA) in detail. It puts light on the origins, aims, objectives, strategies and tactics of the organization. In addition to that, this paper also comments on the leadership, area of operations and military activities of the organization. Moreover, it highlights the government and military activities that are directed towards minimizing the strength and vigor of the NPA.

Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army (CPP/NPA)

Since the year 1970, Philippines has faced civil war on two fronts, one is a Muslim rebellion, which was initiated in the South Island of Mindanao and the other is the communist rebellion, which is led by the New People's Army (NPA). The NPA started targeting its attacks on the Philippine's army in the early 1970s. During the era of 1970s and early 1980s, NPA gained considerable popular support because of its struggle against the dictatorship of the then president of Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

In the month of February, in the year 1986, Marcos was overthrown to the people's power revolution. This event had a detrimental impact on the popular appeal of NPA and the organization was divided into parts. Despite the creation of divisions within the organization, the New People's Army continues to be a major source of a number of violent events. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

In addition to that, the remnants of this organization continue to attack the political opponents and have clashes with the government on various issues. Inspite of its various initiatives, the government of Philippines has not yet succeeded in striking efficient negotiations with the NPA that might put a formal end to the conflicts. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

Origins and Overview of the Organization

The NPA was formulated, on 29th of March in the year 1969, by CPP in Central Luzon in the provinces of Tarlac and Pampanga provinces. CPP, at the time of the formulation of NPA, was in a newly re-established and refurbished state. Bernabe Buscayno was selected as the founding commander-in-chief of the NPA. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

Apart from that, NPA began its operations with only 60 guerrillas and at the time of its initiation it held only 35 weapons, out of which 9 were automatic rifles and the remaining 26 consisted of single-shot rifles and handguns. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

The organization, however, expanded heavily under the martial law regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006) The factors that played an influential role in the early success of the NPA included the following:

The heavy emphasis on the rural areas for the purpose of guerrilla warfare. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

The adaption and utilization of the guerrilla strategy of Mao. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

In the year 1985, it was declared by the organization that it was close to a military victory. The destruction of the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos in the year 1986, however, led towards the creation of turmoil within the organization. The main reason behind the creation of this turmoil was the conflict of interest among the leaders of the organization. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

Some of the leaders of NPA wanted the organization to become a part of the mainstream politics, whereas, the other leaders were of the viewpoint that the organization shall continue its armed struggle. Another reason behind the creation of this turmoil was the decrease in the vigor and extent of the support of the armed conflict. After a series of inconclusive and unsuccessful peace talks with the Aquino government, the robust elements of the NPA continued with their armed conflict in the year 1987. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

The founding leader of the New People's Army was Jose Sison. The NPA, in the present era, is regarded as longest-running insurgency, which is Marxist, of the South East Asia. This organization has been performing its activities in a consistent manner since the last 34 years. A number of tremendous shifts in the global political conditions including the fall of the power of the Soviet Union and its exclusion from the super powers of the world, and the initiation and discovery of a number of new ideological organizations such as Al Qaeda, had no impact on the activities of this organization.

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(Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

In the month of June in the year 2003, the NPA performed one of its deadliest attack that was ever witnessed in the previous decade. Under this attack about 200 of the militants of NPA raided a camp of the Philippine army. As a result of this attack 17 people were killed. Due to the severity of the attack, the then president of Philippine, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the Philippine army to initiate an urgent crackdown on the organization. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

Before the execution of this attack, the government of Philippine had made two attempts to engage the organization in successful and efficient peace talks. Both of these attempts, as mentioned above, were unsuccessful and produced no results. In the year 2001, the government of Philippine indulged in peace talks with the organization, but these peace talks were ceases after the assassination of two of the congressmen of Philippine by the organization. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

The peace talks were again resumed in the year 2003, but these peace talks were rejected by the NPA rebels. The members of NPA rejected to have a peace accord with the government by stating that they were under extensive force because they were listed on the terrorist list of the United States of America and Europe. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

The NPA is one of the Communist rebel groups that operate with an aim of overthrowing the Philippine government. The organization seeks to replace the government of Philippine with a 'national democratic' group. The NPA plans to achieve this through the initiation of 'protracted people's war', with the help of guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare was regarded as one of the basic forms of warfare in the early stages of warfare. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

The New People's Army comes under the governance of the CPP. This organization also constitutes a part of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). NDFP is the guiding source for all the mass national democratic organization. In addition to that, it is also the political wing of the CPP. The NPA has made a number of efforts to begin a rural war, which is peasant based. In addition to that, in order to replace the present government the organization has also made a number of diplomatic efforts with the help of its legal organizations, NDFP, the NGOSs that form an alliance with it, electoral participation and people's organization. (Staff of Political Economy Research Institute, 2006)

Employment Structure

The NPA has been designated as the 'Foreign Terrorist Organization' by the State Department of United State of America. In addition to that, it has also been designated as a terrorist group by the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union. (Faculty of University Of Stanford, 2014)

At the time of its initiation the NPA majorly recruited a large number of peasants. These peasants willingly became a part of this organization because of the discontent that they harbored among themselves in relation to the early unsuccessful struggles the peasants against the inappropriate use of authority of large landlords. These struggles took place during the World War II and they continued after it as well. (Faculty of University Of Stanford, 2014)

In addition to that the NPA was also able to extract a significant pool of supporters from the urban poor population and the labor unions as well. A few years after its establishment, the NPA was able to extend itself geographically and it gained territory in a rapid manner. (Faculty of University Of Stanford, 2014)

This rapid geographical and territorial expansion of NPA is attributable to the fact that at time most of the army of Philippine army was concentrating on fighting with the Moro separatists in the region of Mindanao. (Faculty of University Of Stanford, 2014)

By the year 1986, it was reported that the NPA controlled about one-fifth of the total villages in the Philippines. In addition to that, the total members in its guerrilla force amounted to 24,000. In the year 1986, the civilian protestors, who receive considerable support and backup from the army, overthrow the Marcos government in a peaceful manner. (Faculty of University Of Stanford, 2014)

After this event, one of the leaders of opposition, Corazon Aquino, became the new president of Philippine. Since then.....

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