AFP seeks NPA's supplier of AK-47s

MANILA, Philippines - The Armed Forces of the Philippines has launched intensive intelligence gathering to identify the AK-47 rifle suppliers of the New People's Army (NPA).

The military said that the investigation was launched after a series of AK-47 recoveries after encounters between its troops and the rebels in Mindanao.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) commander, said that they are now coordinating with the Philippine National Police-Firearms and Explosive Division (PNP-FED) to trace the source of the communist-made assault rifles.

“We are conducting our own study but parallel with our efforts, we are coordinating with the PNP-FED because some of the AK47s we have recovered have defaced serial numbers,” Cruz said, adding that they more than a dozen communist rifles are in military custody.

Field military commanders leading the charge against the communist insurgents operating in Northern Mindanao and in Davao Region have also expressed their concern over recoveries of AK-47s in the field.

“Most of these rebels are now armed with AK-47s. And we don’t know where these foreign-made assault rifles are coming from,” one Army field commander, earlier told The Star.

The Army field commander said that in an encounter with rebels in Davao, troops were able to recover six brand-new AK-47 rifles.

“Naka-plastic pa ang nga handles. Mga bagong dating. Saan galing at sino ang nag-supply, 'yan ang inaalam pa namin," he said.

The Army commander said the last information the military had was that the NPA has stopped using AK-47 rifles in their decades-old fight against government because of bullet and spareparts supply problem.

First developed and manufactured in Russia during World War II, AK-47s or Kalaniskovs, named after its inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, was later replicated and mass-produced by China.

The selective-fire gas-operated 7.63 assault rifle has become standard-issue of China’s military as well several other communist states.

Relatedly, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista has gathered his top military commanders in Camp Aguinaldo, including Cruz, for a mid-year assessment on gains of its Oplan Bayanihan anti-insurgency campaign nationwide.

Bautista, in the presence of his area commanders, vowed to defeat the rebels, whose number has already gone down to only 4,000 nationwide, within a three-year period.