Army revives bayanihan strategy to fight NPAs

The Philippine Army has revived the age-old Filipino tradition of bayanihan in the fight against the communist insurgency, believing that military action alone is not enough to address the problem.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Army spokesman, said the bayanihan strategy involves a multi-faceted approach in solving the Maoist rebellion in the countryside, with the participation of other government agencies and private organizations.

The strategy includes free medical and dental services by government health workers and military reservists who are also medical practitioners to residents of far-flung villages.

The concept also has a component for livelihood training such as mushroom cultivation, slipper making, and T-shirt printing for out-of-school youths.

“These services would be further enhanced by a more effective way of mingling with the people that is the kaway, ngiti, bati (wave, smile, greet) approach,” Brawner said.

Also part of the strategy initially launched in Tarlac, Brawner said, is the activation of the barangay defense system that would help maintain peace and order and prevent the infiltration of New People’s Army rebels into communities.

He said the strategy, which is in consonance with President Arroyo’s directive of defeating the NPA by 2010, was initiated by the Army’s Light Armor Division (LAD) based at Camp O’Donnell in Capas, Tarlac.

Brawner said the bayanihan approach has been implemented by the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion for a year now, and was adopted by the LAD.

“It was first launched in the town of Capas, where the deceptive ideology of the NPA was said to have been born,” he said.

Former NPA leader Bernabe “Kumander Dante” Buscayno, according to Brawner, was among those invited to conduct lectures about the evils of communism and how they affected him, his former comrades and their families.

Aside from Tarlac, which now has a province-wide anti-insurgency campaign, the strategy was also launched in some towns in Nueva Ecija.

According to Brawner, the LAD hopes to bring the concept to other parts of the country.