NegOr rebels get E-CLIP aid

From the Visayan Daily Star (Mar 19, 2019): NegOr rebels get E-CLIP aid

Four former members of the New People’s Army from the towns of Mabinay and Zamboanguita in Negros Oriental received financial assistance amounting to P312,000 recently, under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) of the government.

Each former rebel received P78,000, in P15,000 cash and check for P50,000 livelihood aid, plus an additional P10,000 as personal support of Gov. Roel Degamo and P3,000 from the province’s assistance to individual in crisis situation (AICS), a government press release said.

The formal turnover of the cash and livelihood assistance was led by the chair of the Task Force Balik Loob of the Department of National Defense, Undersecretary Reynaldo Mapagu, along with Degamo, commander of the Central Command of Armed Forces of the Philippines, Lt. Gen. Noel Clement, and Department of Interior of Local Government Provincial Director Dennis Quiñones.
The government officials recognized the former rebels’ decision to return to mainstream society and formally welcomed them to renew their lives.

Clement said the former rebels were victims of the "deceptive strategy" Communist Terrorist Groups’ (CTGs).

“Instead of being in school and taking care of their family, they were tricked into joining the combat in the mountains," he said.

The AFP aims to work with local government units together with development partners and private sectors to achieve a holistic program towards peace, development, and governance to give the needed solutions for the residents in the province, Clement said.

Degamo called on other NPAs to surrender to the authorities and take advantage of the programs of the government.

He vowed that the province will add P50,000 financial support, on top of the E-CLIP assistance, especially to those who will bring in their firearms, the press release said.

“I reiterate that we cannot win peace by bullets or armed struggle and the false belief that NPAs give to members to go against the government,” Degamo said.

Mapagu urged other NPA members to return to the folds of the law and avail of the benefits of the government’s program.

“It is high time to end this communist insurgency problem as the government is serious in the program to win them back and ensure their well-being to become productive Filipino citizens,” he added.

The rebel returnees shared some stories of their plights and thanked the government for the opportunity to change their lives and the chance to live peacefully with their families.

Mapagu said that in 2018, some 7,797 rebels surrendered. Of that number, 1,700 were original members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA, and the rest were Militia Ng Bayan, or paramilitaries, and all of them were given assistance.

E-CLIP is one of the flagship programs of the Duterte administration that seeks to address social healing and national unity towards the higher objective of having just and lasting peace.

It aims to provide social equity to former members of the NPA, CPP, National Democratic Front of the Philippines, and the Militia ng Bayan to reintegrate them into mainstream society, the press release said.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2019/March/19/topstory9.htm