CAMP CANUTO, PILI, Camarines Sur -- Counting 13 guerilla fronts of the New People’s Army in Bicol, the Army’s commanding general of the 9th Infantry Division (ID) expressed optimism they could dismantle another three this year after two guerilla fronts were decimated before the end of December.

        Major Gen. Jeffrey Sodusta, commanding general of the Philippine Army in Bicol, revealed the two guerilla fronts he claimed incapacitated are located in Camarines Sur and Sorsogon.

        Sodusta described a guerilla front as an area comprising of three to four towns where an NPA-controlled shadow government operates.

        He named the dismantled guerilla fronts as Front Jaylo and Front 74 that he said the shadow government, that included local militias, had been successfully neutralized by the use of special operation teams (SOTs), a counterinsurgency strategy that combines awareness campaign and paramilitary units.

        Sodusta said they have mobilized networks of civilians, along the routes going in and out of the villages, who tip the Army of the NPA rebels’ movement with the use of short messaging system (SMS).

        He said the Front Jaylo comprised the towns of Castilla, Pilar and Donsol in Sorsogon province and the Front 74, the towns of Caramoan, Pasacao and Calabanga in Camarines Sur province.

        The 9th Infantry Division’s accomplishment report covering Jan.-Dec. 2007 for Bicol region counted 119 SOTs, 195 encounters, 103 enemies neutralized (killed, arrested, surrendered), 269 enemy supporters surrendered and 168 assorted firearms, war materiel and documents confiscated from the NPA rebels.

        Sodusta assessed the year 2008 a year of more “firepower” for the Army with the objective of “making the final push” to crush the decades-old communist insurgency in 2010.

        He highlighted the improved intelligence capability of the Army here which he said led to the arrest of two top-rank commanders of the NPA in Bicol.

        “On January 9, the combined elements of our 65th Infantry Battalion, Intelligence Service and the police forces of Sta. Maria, Bulacan arrested inside the cockpit Iglecerio Pernia alias Ka Choy, the secretary of the Provincial Committee of the communist terrorists in Albay,” Sodusta declared.

        He added Pernia has a P1-M tag on his head at the time of his arrest and heckled the communist movement of harboring gamblers who spend extorted money in cockfights.

        Sodusta claimed a certain Rabulan, the head of the Front Jaylo in Sorsogon, was also collared inside a cockpit in Pilar town last Dec. 19, that dispersed the organization of the shadow government of the NPA rebels.

        He said the Army will recruit some 600 soldiers and another 600 paramilitary forces this year to intensify the counterinsurgency operation in the region while an addition of three companies are to be deployed in the island-province Catanduanes.

        Sodusta cited the increase in basic monthly pay to P14,200 from P8,000 to a private and upgrade the honoraria of the members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) from P1,800 to P2,700 as part of strengthening the Army.

        He added the Cafgu members are also given P150 daily allowance in the duration of active combat operation against the NPA rebels.

        Sodusta said the Army’s strength is beefed up with new war materiel, guns and equipment, at the same time employing redeployment of forces in the target three guerilla fronts that he refused to identify until mission is completed.

        He revealed they will also increase reward for tipsters who could lead to the arrest of top-rank NPA leaders as they push to mobilize some 5,000 civilians into Barangay Defense System (BDS).

        “The people will fight on their own,” Sodusta said.

        He placed the forces of the NPA rebels operating in the region to some 600 fulltime insurgents dispersed in the six Bicol provinces from its peak of some 2,000 combatants, cadres and members in the ‘80s.

        The commanding general said the government has the resources and capability to sustain the operation to crush the communist insurgency and institutional adjustments including disbursement of operational budget directly to the combat units are already done with.

        He said their units continue to weed out undesirables to consolidate the Army with 91 cases already resolved from the 128 cases filed against erring rank-in-file soldiers and officers in 2007.

        Sodusta estimated that out of 1,000 new recruits only 250 get to complete the basic training and 100 become regular soldiers.

        Brig. Gen. Romulo Supapo, assistant commander here, criticized the NPA rebels to have lost the cause and now resort to banditry and extortion.

        Supapo claimed the communist movement is also saddled with problems in corruption that ex-rebels divulged as one of the reasons of their decision to give up the armed struggle.