New AFP chief Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, undoubtedly bristling with pride and confidence on his appointment, promised to make the communist New People's Army irrelevant during his term. Just as undoubtedly, the promise made for good sound bytes and sat well with the public.
The Philippine public has long grown weary of the communist insurgency and could not ask for a better gift than to be finally rid of this ideological scourge. And with communism on the decline globally, there should be no reason why its irrelevance indeed cannot be attained.
But while the public does almost automatically applaud such bold pronouncements, people do not actually go so far as to drop to their knees in supplication to the latest messiah. They know that time and again many such promises have failed and failed utterly.
The distinction of being Asia's longest insurgency is perhaps the only remaining fuel that feeds the communist flame in these parts. Its numbers are declining and its promises no longer fan much appeal.
And yet like the proverbial pain in the neck, it simply refuses to go away, and AFP chief after AFP chief have all made the same bold promise but simply failed to deliver by the time they faded into the sunset.
All things considered, it could not be sheer resiliency that is keeping this pesky insurgency alive. Resiliency alone does not win wars of this duration. It could be because of something else, but do not look to the communists to provide the answers.
That consideration out of the way, the only thing left to consider is that maybe the problem lies with the AFP, or in a broader sense the government, on the manner in which it has chosen to fight the NPA.
Clearly it is not enough, as it has never been enough, to just make bold promises. There should be a genuine resolve to deliver on that promise and to deliver it at the soonest time possible. Falling short of that and every retiring AFP chief simply kicks the can down the road.