After two years, the 79th IB—the battalion focused on the counterinsurgency campaign in Northern Negros—will once again change commanders. Like the previous battalion commanders who aimed to crush the New People’s Army (NPA) and the revolutionary movement in the area, Lt. Col. Arnel Calaoagan will step down from his post as a failure.

Calaoagan became battalion commander on June 29, 2023, succeeding Lt. Col. J-Jay Javines who also served for two years. Upon his appointment, he promised to continue the “success” of the 79th IB’s previous commanders.

On April 6, 2021, the battalion and its higher command officially declared having dismantled the Northern Negros guerrilla front. After this and the supposed dismantling of other fronts on the island, Negros was categorized under state of stable internal peace and security (sips) in the first quarter of 2024.

Rectification

The Northern Negros revolutionary movement’s situation is far from Calaoagan’s delusions. The NPA-Northern Negros (Roselyn Jean Pelle Command) reported its decisive steps to overcome weaknesses, rectify, and advance in line with the Communist Party of the Philippines’ call for the rectification movement.

The Red army has worked hard to raise their knowledge of guerrilla warfare through ideological studies. Commanders and fighters furrowed their brows to apply these in their specific area. They resolved the problem of self-constriction and raised their capability in guerrilla tactics of concentration, shifting, dispersal, and quick movement.

According to the unit, even amid the 79th IB’s most intense combat operations and focused military operations in the guerrilla front, it managed to maintain its forces and launch timely counter-encirclement campaigns and expand their area of operations.

The NPA-Northern Negros carried out more than 20 offensive operations of various types and scope during Calaoagan’s term. In these operations, they seized five high-powered firearms, more than 10 lower-caliber firearms, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and other war matériel.

Contrary to Calaoagan’s pronouncements of dwindling NPA in the area, the unit recorded a 12% increase in the number of full-time Red fighters. The unit also increased the number of people’s militia in the area by almost 20%.

The Northern Negros mass base also significantly expanded as organizing committees daringly formed full-fledged mass organizations. The masses initiated dialogues and alliances with barangay officials. They stood their ground and confronted the military in defense of their rights.

Alongside this, creative and secret party courses are being conducted right under the enemy’s nose. Party members completing the basic party course continue to increase in numbers.

“Calaoagan’s empty declaration of ‘strategic’ victory is pure fiction. He will leave his post without any victory while the Party-initiated rectification movement continues to deepen its roots in Northern Negros,” NPA-Northern Negros spokesperson Ka Cecil Estrella said.

Calaoagan and the 79th IB under his command can only boast of his long list of human rights violations. In his two years of service, the 79th IB forces in Northern Negros committed no less than 49 cases of human rights violations. More than 22,000 people, including 5,000 children, fell victim to these cases.

With Calaoagan’s departure from the 79th IB, he is expected to be assigned to a higher position in the division in Negros. The masses of Negros must continue to unite to expose and resist Calaoagan and butchers like him.