Former rebel group now a member of the Cordillera peace council

From  the Philippine Information Agency (Dec 10): Former rebel group now a member of the Cordillera peace council

A former armed group in the region that pioneered the campaign for Cordillera regional autonomy in now part of the Cordillera Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC). The Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA), now known as the Cordillera Forum for Peace and Development (CFPD), has been accepted as council member during the fourth quarter RPOC meeting here.

The CFPD has been requesting to become a member of the RPOC after the CPLA-Cordillera Bodong ADministration signed a memrandum of agreement with the Philippine Government last year towards the group's final disposition of arms and forces and its transformation into a potent socio-economic force.  CFPD chairman Arsenio Humiding has been presenting the RPOC the different documents including the registration to the Securities and Exchange Commission of their group proving that they have been transformed into a socio-economic group pursuant to the provisions of the MOA.

RPOC chairman and Ifugao Governor Eugene Balitang said the application of the CFPD to be a member of the RPOC was put on hold in previous meetings as the group was still in the process of transforming into an unarmed force. The Philippine Army battalions based in the Cordillera namely the 501st, 502nd and 503rd Infantry Brigades are reportedly supportive of the move of the former rebel group to join the RPOC and help in the peace and order efforts in the region.

In the past months, the CFPD has already been conducting the profiling of its members in the different provinces in the Cordillera. At present, more than 1000 members have been profiled. Through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, the Police Regional Office – Cordillera also conducted inventory and valuation of firearms and explosives of the CFPD members. The turnover was conducted in the six provinces in the region but the police is still waiting for the final turnover of firearms and explosives after only 386 were valuated out of the more than 600 which were previously reported by the CPLA.

http://www.pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?article=41354727679