Army optimistic of rebel-free Samar by 2016

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 8): Army optimistic of rebel-free Samar by 2016

The Philippine Army (PA) is on track to make the provinces of Samar and Northern Samar insurgent-free by 2016, even with the recent encounters of government troops and communist-rebels, an official said.

Capt. Amado Gutierrez, chief of the public affairs office of the PA's 8th Infantry Division is optimistic of putting the two economically-depressed provinces in the category of “manageable conflict-affected areas ready for development” in the next two years.

“We have two full years to achieve that. This is attainable since our bayanihan program has reached majority of barangays in Samar and Northern Samar,” Gutierrez said.

Bayanihan program brings the delivery services to hinterland villages, mostly infested by the New People’s Army (NPA), which cannot be accessed by national government agencies due to poor infrastructure.

Under its internal security plan, the Army believed that insurgency is largely driven by structural problems in the country, such as unequal development, non-delivery of basic services, injustice, and poor governance.

“We want to bridge these gaps in two Samar provinces through bayanihan,” he said. “By 2016, we cannot say that the insurgent problem will be completely gone but the degree of influence will be manageable.”

Of the six provinces in Region 8, four have already been declared as insurgent-free, these are Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, and Southern Leyte. The latest province to ear the recognition was Eastern Samar on March 26, this year.

The Army official could not give an estimate of the strength of the insurgents operating in Samar since many of them come to Samar from Bicol and move back to Bicol.

The absence of road networks in the tri-boundaries of the island and lack of education, make people vulnerable to the influence of communist-rebels.

Samar and Northern Samar registered the lowest simple literacy rates in Eastern Visayas at 85.4 percent and 88.3 percent, respectively, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO)

Depite recent clashes between army and rebels, optimism was raised by  the government to address the problem.

The latest clash was on Sunday morning in the remote Diit village in Matuguinao, Samar. A soldier was hurt while an undetermined number of rebels was wounded in  the 10-minute firefight.

Last June 23, at least 54 communist rebels in Northern Samar laid down their arms to Lieutenant Colonel Noel Vestuir, commanding officer of  the Army’s  20^th Infantry Battalion based in Barangay Magsaysay, Lope de Vega, Northern Samar.

Two days after, a soldier was killed  and six others from the government troops were wounded. The landmine blast ensued a 30-minute firefight between government troops  and an undetermined number of NPA rebels.

On June 29, two Samar officials were nabbed in Mandalyong City.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez said that even if the two  provinces will be declared insurgent-free, army strength will remain in the island to sustain the insurgent-free status.

The Army is also counting on the completion of Samar roads for peace and development. Among these are the opening of the Gandara-Matuguinao road, Matuguinao-Las Navas road, San Jose de Buan-Matuguinao road, Silvino Lobos-Las Navas road, Las Navas-Jipapad road, Paranas-San Jose de Buan road and San Isidro-Lope de Vega road. .

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=542108