The military’s campaign against the communist-led insurgency in the northern portion of the country is expected to take a new tack following President Duterte’s designation of a senior commander credited for bringing the New People’s Army (NPA) Army on “the verge of collapse” in Southern Tagalog.
Maj. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr. was installed on Monday as the new commander of Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) from his previous assignment as commander of the Army’s Southern Luzon Command in charge of Southern Tagalog, including Mindoro and Romblon.
Burgos, member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1988 and known in the military circles as the “consensus builder,” succeeded Lt. Gen. Manuel Ramiro Rey in a ceremony presided over by Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Gilbert Gapay.
Gapay congratulated Burgos for his “well-deserved designation and impending promotion to three stars,” while assuring the public the “he has the credentials and experience to ensure the success of military operations in this part of the country.”
The chief of staff prodded the new NOLCOM commander to “continue the AFP’s operational momentum in this critical part of our land by ensuring efficient interoperability between and among the different services which are now under your command.”
Gapay commended Burgos for the “headways that 2nd ID [infantry division], under your leadership, has recorded particularly in pushing the NPA terrorists’ Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee to the verge of collapse” while wishing the best for Rey, who will retire from the service.
Burgos, known for his operational expertise and his innovative ways in dealing with insurgency and its issues, took on the challenge of bringing a new direction to the campaign against the rebels in the whole of Northern Luzon.
“I am bringing with me the learnings and experiences that I accumulated in my more than 36 years of military service, as well as the innovations, approaches and best practices from the immediate south of Metro Manila, which has pushed the once mighty Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee on the verge of irrecoverable defeat,” he said.
Burgos thanked Duterte “for his unwavering trust and confidence in my abilities as a military commander” while directing the soldiers to “deal the NPA terrorists the decisive blows necessary to finish insurgency before the end of the President’s term.”
It was during the term of Burgos as the commander of the 2nd ID when the military captured, neutralized, or forced the surrender of the most number of rebels and their leaders in Southern Tagalog.
The 2nd ID is just awaiting for the formal declaration of the dismantling of the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee (STRPC) Guerilla Front Cesar, which operates in the provinces of Rizal, Laguna, Quezon and Bulacan, as Burgos exited from the division.
It would be the second NPA front under the STRPC that would be dismantled in two years following the demise of Guerilla Front Honda, which the 202nd Infantry Brigade dismantled in 2019 when Burgos was its commander.
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