Army to declare three Samar towns as rebel-free

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 10): Army to declare three Samar towns as rebel-free

The Philippine Army will declare the three island towns in Samar province as insurgency-free, in time with the celebration of Philippine Independence Day on Friday.

Maj. Gen. Jet Velarmino, commander of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division described the declaration as one of the first steps in attaining lasting peace in the province.

The three towns are part of the five island towns in Samar province that the Philippine Army is planning to declare as insurgency-free areas.

Included in these three towns is the fishing and coconut farming town of Almagro. The two other towns are still being verified, but sources from the military said these are Santo Niño and Tagapul-an.

The declaration will be held at the provincial capitol grounds on Friday in the presence of Samar governor Sharee Ann Tan-de los Santos.

Samar province is already declared as manageable-conflict affected and ready for development area, the first classification before military could declare a place as insurgency-free.

"Declaration of insurgency-free is made at the ground level through the local peace and order council which passes a resolution that we in the military validates," Velarmino said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=770932