The struggle between the Philippine New People's Army (NPA) and the government has been ongoing for almost 50 years.

To have a comprehensive understanding of the New People's Army as an armed group, we need to look at the two political organizations involved, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF).

The CPP was established on November 7, 1930, but was later re-established on the basis of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thought in late 1968. The NPA is the armed wing of the CPP and was established a few months after the re-establishment of the CPP.

The NDF was set up on April 24, 1973, to unite different social classes and organizations in the Philippines. It plays an important role in the country's diplomacy and negotiations.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the NPA remained active in the whole country, especially in the islands of Samar and Mindanao.

According to a document from the CPP in 2004 on the 35th anniversary of the party's re-establishment, the NPA had 128 guerrilla fronts in 8,000 villages, or 20 percent of all villages in the country. By its own account, it had influence in 700-800 cities and towns, 50 percent of all the cities. And 90 percent of provinces had bases of the NPA.

In the past two decades, due to the power struggle and mutual distrust within the NPA, the strength of the army has gradually been fading. However, sporadic military clashes, especially attacks on government forces, still caused panic among the public. The NPA also launched attacks on foreign enterprises. In 2006, it attacked a Chinese company for its refusal to hand over the "revolutionary tax," followed by another assault on a Japanese business site in 2013.

To maintain social stability, successive Philippine governments have prioritized peace talks with the NPA. Since the 1980s till now, the two sides have reached nearly 20 agreements or joint statements, including those on cease-fire, building political trust and respect for human rights. But given the sporadic military conflicts and changing international landscape, many agreements were not implemented.

On April 25, thanks to the mediation of Rodrigo Duterte, the current Philippine president who was then mayor of Davao, the NPA released five policemen it kidnapped in Davao. On May 16, Duterte said in a press conference that he would offer the CPP positions in four key government agencies if it joined his new administration.

In his first state of the nation address in July, Duterte announced an immediate unilateral cease-fire with the NPA, but later he withdrew the plan due to no response from the communist insurgents. On August 5, the Philippine government forces were attacked by the NPA in the southern part of the country, with four soldiers killed, one missing and a dozen hurt. The bilateral peace process once again suffered a setback.

Duterte is another hard-line president after Fidel Ramos. Duterte was known for his aggressive style and patronage of vigilante death squads during his tenure as the mayor of Davao.

During the election, he promised to launch a nationwide campaign to tackle crime. Since he took the rule, he has been trying to establish a new social order, especially targeting at drug-trafficking. He has gone beyond ideology by defining the activities of the NPA as a criminal act instead of a political struggle. Therefore, the NPA rebels also fall into the orbit of Duterte's anti-crimes campaign.

Judging by his past governance style, Duterte will continue to adopt a hard-line approach in dealing with the NPA. But from the experience of past administrations, the solution should mainly be negotiations.

Although the armed forces of the NPA are only estimated at 4,000 to 5,000 fighters, it carries out a wide variety of activities, most of which are in remote districts.

Meanwhile, there is a lack of unified command among different armed groups and the distinctions between the rebels and ordinary people are vague, thus it is hard to strike against them.

The author is a professor at the Southeast Asia branch of the School of Foreign Languages, Peking University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion