From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 15, 2019): Another Iloilo town declares CPP-NPA unwelcome
REDS REJECTED. The Municipal Peace and Order Council of Janiuay town passed a resolution on Wednesday (Aug. 14, 2019) declaring the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) unwelcome. Capt. Dadje Delima, Janiuay Municipal Police Station chief, said Janiuay condemns the extortion, atrocities, and other terroristic acts conducted by the CPP-NPA. (Photo courtesy of 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs Office)
ILOILO CITY -- Janiuay town in Iloilo province has declared the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) persona non-grata during the Municipal Peace and Order Council (MPOC) meeting on Thursday.
Capt. Dadje Delima, Janiuay Municipal Police Station chief, confirmed in a phone interview that Janiuaynons rejected rebels in their municipality.
MPOC Resolution No. 1, series of 2019 signed by Janiuay mayor Bienvenido Margarico, condemns the “terroristic acts committed by the CPP-NPA and other terrorist groups and declaring them persona non-grata in the municipality of Janiuay.”
The said resolution states that Janiuay’s “socio-economic advancement" has been affected due to the series of atrocities conducted by the communist NPA terrorists.
Delima said declaring the rebels unwelcome in the municipality will be of great impact to its locals.
“It will be of great help, especially on the economy of the town because we have received so many reports from the business community, especially from our counterpart in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), of the extortion activities of the CPP-NPA,” Delima said.
Aside from businessmen, ordinary people living in far-flung villages were also unsafe of the extortion activities of the rebels.
Delima said the CPP-NPA conducts house-to-house extortion, asking people for food “because they experience hunger in the mountains.”
Aside from extortion, Delima said “there is also a series of atrocities conducted by the CPP-NPA in the hinterland barangays,” citing reports from the AFP.
He said there were “profiled” members of the CPP-NPA operating in the upland villages of Janiuay. “We cannot divulge their identities but we now reject their presence in our town,” he said.
He expressed optimism that declaring the CPP-NPA persona non-grata, paired with the police and AFP’s continuous conduct of community outreach and anti-insurgency activities, will eventually spare the upland villages from the rebels.
Delima said their action should be a “judgment call” to other MPOCs in the province to do the same.
On August 8, Maasin town in Iloilo also rejected the CPP-NPA’s presence.
Maasin Mayor Francis Amboy said that Maasin town does not tolerate the terroristic actions of the CPP-NPA and its propagation of fear to the general public, among others.
Maj. Gen. Dinoh Dolina, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division continues to urge local government units to prevent the rebels from entering and casting terror in municipalities.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1077873
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