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Thursday, March 28, 2024

More rebels abandoning armed struggle, task force says

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Over 20,000 people linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) have surrendered and abandoned the local armed struggle through the effective whole-of-nation approach of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

During the virtual press briefing of the NTF-ELCAC on Monday, Defense Undersecretary and Task Force Balik Loob (TFBL) chair Reynaldo Mapagu disclosed that since the start of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, the government has recorded a total of 20,579 surrenderees, which included 5,262 NPA Fighters, 3,414 members of Militia ng Bayan, 7,626 mass supporters, and 2,224 underground mass organization members.

Mapagu said that these former rebels have revealed to authorities the locations of 51 NPA arms caches nationwide yielding 245 firearms and 100 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and anti-personnel mines (APMs).

According to the TFBL chair, “the recovery of these arms cache is reflective of the dwindling warm bodies in the NPA which is a result of the efforts of the NTF-ELCAC, the continuous military and police operations and the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-Clip), the government’s flagship program for the reintegration of former members of the CPP-NPA-NDF.”

Mapagu added that the government has spent over half a billion pesos in various programs to aid former rebels to live peaceful and productive lives.

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He said that as of Nov. 28, a total of P485,462,013.90 worth of assistance were given to 6,418 individual former rebels nationwide. Of the total, 6,164 of them received immediate cash assistance; 3,744 were given livelihood assistance; 5,198 for reintegration assistance;

and, 1,430 received remuneration from surrendering their firearms. 

Mapagu stressed that the firearms surrendered by the former rebels were all destroyed to show that “there are no so-called recycling of these firearms” and also to end their role as weapons of violence.

He also said 623 former rebels already joined the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), with 66 of them “are now enlisted in AFP’s regular forces,” while the remaining 557 former rebels are now members of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU).

“E-Clip assistance is not rewards but rather investments in the country’s human capital and an opportunity that former rebels … have a better future with their families,” Mapagu explained.

He added that those found or validated as former regular members of the Communist Terrorist Groups (CTGs) are accorded with various assistance programs such as psychological development, housing and livelihood projects that include their family members who would be

sheltered at a community away from the influence of the CPP-NPA-NDF.

Once former rebels are integrated back into the community, Mapagu pointed out, it is at this stage that, the NTF-ELCAC’s Barangay Development Program (BDP) comes into use.

On the other hand, Escalante City Mayor Melecio J. Yap Jr. of Negros Occidental said he laments the budget cuts or the abolition of NTF-ELCAC and its BDP as proposed by some of the country’s lawmakers.

Yap said that 90 percent of BDP projects in his city are almost 100 percent implemented, and the abolition of the task force and the BDP will hamper the development and progress at the grass-root level.

He cited that his constituents spend about P300 per ton as additional costs in transporting sugar cane, which is their main source of income.  

Yap even challenged those who proposed the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC and criticized the BDP to visit Escalante and to see for themselves the projects that have been implemented without the so-called politicking but only to help his constituents to have better lives.

Escalante City is a flash point of activities of the CPP-NPA-NDF as revealed by former rebel  “Ka Eric Almendras” who said that through the E-CLIP, the government have earned the trust and confidence of returning rebels who saw this Administration’s sincerity of reaching out and helping them get back to society.

Meanwhile, Almendras rejected the unfounded accusations made by national officials such as Vice President Leni Robredo’s previous pronouncement that the NTF-E CAC is just a duplication of what other government agencies are already doing while all it does is “carelessly red-tagging.”

For his part, Prosecutor Flos mer Chris Gonzales, Regional Task Force – ELCAC 6 spokesperson, said the sudden change of heart by the Vice President is proof that she is now enlightened of the NTF-ELCAC’s goals, and cautioned some candidates to “stop maligning the NTF-ELCAC.”

“Our struggle for peace transcend beyond politics,” Gonzales explained.

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