The New People's Army (NPA) is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and was formed in December 1969 (ICT 2001; FAS 22 May 2002; MILNET 2 Oct. 1997) "with the aim of overthrowing the government through protracted guerrilla warfare" (ICT 2001). According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), "the NPA primarily targets Philippine security forces, politicians, judges, government informers, former rebels who wish to leave the NPA, and alleged criminals. [It] [o]pposes any US military presence in the Philippines and attacked US military interests before the US base closures in 1992" (FAS 22 May 2002).

No reference to an NPA attack in the vicinity of Pagbilao in July 1996 could be found in the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism's (ICT) list of NPA attacks for the period 1998 to May 2002, nor among other sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find attached the list of additional sources consulted in researching this information request.

References

Federation of American Scientists (FAS). 22 May 2002. "New People's Army (NPA)." http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/npa.htm> [Accessed 12 Aug. 2002]

International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT). 2001. "New People's Army (NPA)." http://www.ict.org.il/inter_ter/orgdet.cfm?orgid=27> [Accessed 12 Aug. 2002]

MILNET. 2 October 1997. "Terrorist Group Profiles: New People's Army (NPA)." http://www.milnet.com/milnet/tgp/data/npa.htm> [Accessed 14 Aug. 2002]

Additional Sources Consulted

Asian Survey. 1996.

IRB databases.

LEXIS/NEXIS

Internet sources, including:

Amnesty International. http://www.amnesty.ca>

Asia Week. http://www.asiaweek.com>

BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk>

CNN World News. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/>

Human Rights Watch. http://www.hrw.org>

Manila Bulletin. http://www.mb.com.ph>

Mindanao Times. http://www.mindanaotimes.com>

Philippine Daily Inquirer. http://www.inq7.net>

Philippines News. http://www.PhilippinesNews.net>

The Republic of the Philippines. Official government website. http://www.gov.ph>

WNC

Yahoo Asia News. http://www.newsflash.org/hlframe.htm>

Search engines, including:

Google

Hotbot

Lycos