MANILA, Philippines — Communist rebels said their armed force, the New People’s Army, has become stronger than ever, buoyed by “the utter failure of the Aquino regime to address the … root of the raging civil war.”

In a statement, the Communist Party of the Philippines said: “Over the past several years, the NPA has surpassed its former peak strength in 1986 and is on its way to reach the 10,000 levels in the next few years.”

Security forces have long claimed that the communists reached peak strength of 25,000 fighters in 1986 but that successful and persistent military and police operations have whittled the number down since then to the present 4,000.

But the CPP debunked this.

“In fact, the peak strength of the NPA was only at 6,100 Red fighters with high-powered rifles in 1986,” it said.

This is the first time the rebels have presented absolute numbers on their strength, although they had earlier denied having grown anywhere near 25,000 fighters.

The CPP statement came after Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Emmanuel Bautista admitted that the government’s counterinsurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan, had barely made a dent on the rebels’ manpower because of what he admitted was the NPA’s continued success in recruiting.

This year also saw a spike in NPA attacks on government forces and big businesses even as government declared it no longer intended to resume peace talks with the National Democratic Front, which represents the communists.

Still Bautista claimed the military remained on track to substantially weaken the communists before the end of President Benigno Aquino III’s term in 2016.

The CPP said “internal errors” led to a decline in NPA strength until 1992, when the rebels launched their “second rectification movement.”

“By 1998, the NPA strength returned to the level of the early 1980s when it started to make big strides forward," it added.

With this growth in manpower and weapons, the CPP said, “the NPA is setting its sights on building around 180 guerrilla fronts nationwide with one company of Red fighters each, and with its armed strength further amplified by tens of thousands of armed militias and members of barrio self-defense committees."

InterAksyon.com