Life is back to normal now for a band of former communist rebels in Catanduanes who have surrendered to the military to relive a peaceful civilian life.
Not only that they were readily accepted by the government
but also all the 14 of them were also given cash incentives to be used in
starting up livelihood activities within a free, democratic society.
Among them is a 34 year-old father of three who was a farm
laborer in his barangay in Pandan, Catanduanes when recruited into the armed
group seven years ago but opted to surrender to the Philippine Army (PA) unit
operating in the province early this year.
“After all those agonizing years, I realized that life is
going nowhere fighting for the rebellious movement. I am so grateful that the
government accepted me back with open arms and is helping me start anew with my
family and community,” he said in the local dialect in a statement recently
released by the PA's 9TH Infantry “Spear” Division based in Pili, Camarines Sur.
In the same statement, Maj. Gen. Yerson Depayso said the 14
Catanduanes rebel-returnees (RRs) who were members of the New People’s army
(NPA) unit operating in the province surrendered en masse to the 83rd Infantry
Battalion (IB), the PA contingent assigned in the province.
Among the help extended by the government to these 14
returnees, Depayso said, is the Php50,000 seed money for their chosen
livelihood project each of them received last week from the Presidential
Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) under the Aquino administration’s
Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP).
The CLIP is a program that aims to facilitate the
mainstreaming of former rebels as productive citizens.
Its implementation is institutionalized by a Joint
Memorandum Circular signed between the Department of Interior and Local
Government and the OPAPP to help former NPA rebels who seek to contribute
towards achieving the goal of permanent and peaceful closure of all armed
conflicts.
One of the successful features of CLIP is the close
collaboration between the military, social welfare agencies and education
wherein the government will support them in capacity-building, sustainable
employment and psychosocial interventions, among others, Depayso said.
Apart from the Php50,000, he said, each of these RRs also
had already received Php15,000 in cash incentive for surrendering with their
firearms and Php2,700 as welcome gift.
Under the CLIP, each NPA rebel who surrenders to the
government with firearm is given monetary grant amounting to Php15,000 and
Php50,000 for livelihood assistance, apart from livelihood skills training and
educational support for them and their dependents.
Some of the “Catanduanes 14” were also provided by the
Department of Labor and Employment with livelihood kits while the others have
enlisted with the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit and now assigned with
various PA units in the province and receiving regular monthly stipends and
allowances, Depayso said.
The Catanduanes provincial government has also invited the
Department of Agriculture, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
and the Department of Trade and Industry for additional assistance that could
be provided for them to be more productive members of peaceful communities, he
said.
In a separate statement, Catanduanes Governor Araceli Wong
said she is grateful to the application of CLIP to these RRs and their
inclusion in government programs that are now being unloaded by the national
administration to local units.
The financial and non-monetary assistance that these RRs are
getting show the sincerity of the Aquino administration in pursuing the peace
process and in addressing the root causes of uprising, like poverty and lack of
livelihood opportunities, Wong said.
All returnees have also conformed to the recent declaration
by the Armed Forces of the Philippines of Catanduanes as already a “Conflict
Manageable and Ready for Development” area, given that the local insurgency problem
had already been contained, she noted.
The declaration was formalized late last year based on the
recommendation made by the Provincial Peace and Order Council, which said “the
Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front politico-military
organizations in the province have been reduced to a minimal level that they
can no longer pose a serious threat to peace and order in the island.”
It can be recalled that until the end of the 1980s, the,
island known to be a quiet place, was a model of peaceful and religious
communities, being spared from the bloody and vicious activities of the NPA
rebels taking place in the Bicol mainland.
In 1990s, the guerrilla movement crossed Maqueda Bay
That shattered the peaceful identity of the province,
compelling the AFP to field in 2001 soldiers of the PA under different units of
its 9th ID to reinforce the local police in engaging the rebels in the battle
front.
In about four years of relentless campaign both in the
mountainous and lowland terrains of the province, the soldiers and the police
were able to liberate all barangays from the influence of the rebels and
reduced the NPA's force from about 200 fully-armed guerrillas to only 27 with
14 firearms as of the middle of last year.
The victory of the province against the NPA comes as a
result of the heightened internal peace and security operations and peace and
development programs of the government with the support of all stakeholders,
Depayso said.
With this, he added, the AFP has already turned over to the
Catanduanes provincial government the lead role in undertaking the province’s
internal peace and security efforts.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=806293
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.