Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) commander Lt. Gen. Caesar Ronnie F. Ordoyo has renewed his appeal recently to local government units (LGUs) under the command’s area of responsibility to extend assistance to rebel-returnees.
Ordoyo said the government, through the Armed Forces of the Philippines has implemented projects and programs that extend short and long term assistance to rebel-returnees who have since laid down their arms and started their lives anew.
The SOLCOM chief did the rounds of dialogues and meetings lately with the Southern Tagalog and Bicol Region officials to support military efforts at extending help to rebels who have abandoned their armed struggle.
With old and new faces in the local political front following the May mid-term elections in the
Ordoyo said any form of support that will be extended by local chief executives would be a big boost for the government’s peace efforts as former rebels upon their surrender would be extended financial help and may qualify for housing, livelihood and scholarship program for their children.
Ordoyo mentioned the Gun for Peace Program where the rebel returnee is provided with cash equivalent like the “cash for swap” on the firearm he has surrendered to the military.
Ordoyo remained optimistic that the local government executives will respond to his appeal as the national government has already earmarked funds for the former rebels who are back into the mainstream.
The SOLCOM commanding general hoped the LGUs will be the military’s strong partners in maintaining peace and order in their respective areas of responsibilities to spur social order, growth and development.
Meanwhile, Quezon Governor David “Jayjay” Suarez also assured SOLCOM officials here that he has already embarked local projects that would strengthen the 1,242 barangays in the province and benefit from his Galing Pook award-winning “Serbisyong Suarez” program.
Governor Suarez believed that the strength of the barangays would boost the strength of the province as they are integral parts and therefore each barangay should have its rightful share of the fruits of development.
He said that whatever is reaped by the province must also trickle down to the grassroots in the more than a thousand barangays in Quezon.
Suarez also pushed for the development projects in the barangays where the AFP-SOLCOM could greatly help in implementing the projects.
Ordoyo thanked Quezon’s mobilization program and praised Governor Suarez for his pro-poor projects and for Quezon as the first among the 15 provinces under the SOLCOM jurisdiction where they conducted their round of visits and dialogues.
The SOLCOM commander also lauded the Quezon chief executive for the briefing-presentation on the province’s holistic development plan to the SOLCOM officials as these would strengthen coordinative efforts in the Provincial Peace and Order Council.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=546201
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