Manila, June 18 (IANS) Three suspected rebels were killed in a clash in Leyte province in the central Philippines, the Philippine military said Wednesday.
The military said troops clashed with alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) on Tuesday morning in Carigara, Xinhua news agency reported.
No soldiers were killed or wounded in the fighting.
NPA rebels have been fighting government troops since 1969. Military data showed that the NPA’s personnel strength has declined since its peak of around 25,000 armed members in the 1980s.
Despite its dwindling fighters, the NPA continues to launch small-scale attacks in the countryside.
The NPA operates and is based primarily in the Philippine countryside, where the CPP alleges it has established itself in 73 out of the country’s 81 provinces, across over 110 guerrilla fronts.
In guerrilla zones where the NPA has entrenched itself, the CPP–NPA has established a People’s Democratic Government (Gobyernong Bayan), which operates independently of the Philippine government.
Within these zones, income taxes, which would nominally go to the government treasury, instead go to the NPA, which they use to fund community services.
The NPA, as represented by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, is a party to ongoing peace talks between the People’s Democratic Government and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines.
Peace negotiations have reached an impasse, with the Rodrigo Duterte administration unilaterally announcing the termination of peace talks in 2019.
Negotiations between the GRP and the NDFP stalled on signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER), and the issue of localised peace talks between individual units of the NPA.
–IANS
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