Military says Negros Occidental nearing ‘peaceful and ready for further development’ status

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 19): Military says Negros Occidental nearing ‘peaceful and ready for further development’ status

Negros Occidental is expected to be declared as “peaceful and ready for further development” province this year, the Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade said.

The province’s fourth district will also be declared as such after the area remained insurgency-free in more than a decade.

Col. Jon Aying, commander of 303rd IB, said that although there are about 200 communities in Negros Occidental still affected by the armed conflict, the number is negligible.

They comprise only 3.3 percent of 7,000 communities in the province, he added.

There are only 200 remaining members of the New People’s Army, which is also negligible compared to the more than three million residents of Negros Occidental, Aying said.

In Western Visayas, only the provinces of Iloilo and Negros Occidental have yet to be declared as “peaceful and ready for further development” by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Last year, Negros Oriental was already declared as “peaceful and ready for further development.”

Aying added that although the NPA is still able to recruit new members, he believes the Army is dismantling more communities that those influenced by the NPA.

“We have more surrenderees and we win back people more than their number,” the Army official said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=726805