Thursday, February 19, 2015

Army tags four Leyte areas as rebel hotspots

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 19): Army tags four Leyte areas as rebel hotspots

The Philippine Army has tagged remote villages of one city and three towns in Leyte province as hotspots of the New People’s Army (NPA), which calls for more concerted effort to address insurgency.

Col. Dinoh Dolina, commander of the 802 Infantry Brigade based in Ormoc City, said that armed communist rebels have been sighted in remote areas of Jaro, Carigara, Burauen and Ormoc City.

Early this week, Dolina met with the Leyte provincial board to discuss strategies to solve the old-aged insurgency problem in the province.

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines should make an effort to work closely with the local government officials and other line agencies to formulate programs that would help the locality achieve insurgency free,” Dolina said.

Dolina added that the impression of villagers that government programs do not reach their communities is one of the many reasons that people opted to join the rebel group.

Meeting with local legislators in Leyte is one of the many ways the AFP will be doing.

“We will take suggestions and information from legislators to implement policies that may curb insurgency, although it requires help from all the stakeholders,” Dolina said.

Meanwhile, Leyte Vice Governor Carlo P. Loreto is elated that there are three towns that have been declared as insurgency-free. These are the towns of Merida, Matag-ob and Palompon.

Loreto also lauded the recent move of the AFP that aside from going after the armed groups, “they are now shaping up their own ranks to free themselves from criticism of abuse and human rights violation.”

“The approach is internal, by shaping up and fixing up their group, they also engage in dialogue and to prepare for lasting peace,” said Loreto.

He added that the move of the military in involving the community and the local government leaders or the heroism approach is admirable.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=737262

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