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The Philippines’ Communist Insurgency Is Set to Grind On

The Philippines’ Communist Insurgency Is Set to Grind On
Members of the New People's Army communist insurgency hold their weapons at their guerrilla encampment in the Sierra Madre mountains, southeast of Manila, Philippines, Nov. 23, 2016 (AP photo by Aaron Favila).

On July 13, Eduardo Ano—national security adviser to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and co-vice chair of the government’s anti-insurgency task force—vowed to “completely crush” the New People’s Army, or NPA, by the end of the current presidential term in 2028. The Philippine military has been even more brazen, saying it aims to dismantle the 1,500-strong communist insurgency, which has operated in the Philippine countryside since the late 1960s, by the end of this year.

This language stands in stark contrast to the conciliatory tone the Philippine government adopted just eight months ago, in November 2023, when the two sides signed a joint statement in Oslo agreeing to work toward a “principled and peaceful” resolution to end the long-running armed conflict. The government framed the Oslo meeting as a “new start,” rather than as a revival of past negotiations, setting aside the sticking points that led previous talks to collapse.

But while past peace initiatives, which have taken place under six consecutive Philippine presidents in the post-1986 democratic era, ultimately collapsed, they at least began. This time, it appears that the promised talks failed to even get off the ground. Since November, there has been little reported contact between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, or NDFP—the formal negotiating arm of the NPA—and its political parent body, the Communist Party of the Philippines, or CPP.

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