The activity was conducted to define the roles of tribal leaders in relation to the implementation of Executive Order No. 70 (EO 70) institutionalizing the 'whole-of-nation' approach to end local communist armed conflict.
The whole-of-nation approach requires the participation of not only the different agencies of the government but the different sectors of the community in addressing the very long existing insurgency caused by the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People's Army (CPP-NPA) which hinders development, particularly in the countryside.
Hence, the different tribal leaders expressed their desire to fight the CPP-NPA to finally end insurgency and other armed struggles.
Present during the meeting were Agusan del Norte 2nd district representative Ma. Angelica Rosedell M. Amante-Matba, NCIP Caraga regional director Ferdaussi Cerna, and provincial indigenous peoples mandatory representative (IPMR) of Agusan del Norte Datu Bawang Eddie Ampiyawan.
Ampiyawan extended his gratitude to the local government unit of Agusan del Norte and the 23rd Infantry Battalion (23IB) for helping the indigenous peoples (IPs)/lumads and for hearing their grievances against the CPP-NPA terrorists who continuously sow terror in their communities.
“I encourage all tribal leaders to support the government to end insurgency. Let us be one in fighting the CPP-NPA for us to have a peaceful community. We will not allow them to deceive and manipulate anymore our families and become victims again of their evil interest,” Ampiyawan said.
Moreover, Matba expressed her appreciation for holding the activity as a support to the efforts of the government in implementing EO 70 particularly in the province of Agusan del Norte.
“I know that there are many IPs who were deceived and recruited by the NPA rebels. I can’t take it if lumads will fight against each other. Let us work hand-in-hand, converge our efforts to end insurgency,” Matba said.
Likewise, Cerna said that the best contribution that tribal leaders can extend to end insurgency in Caraga is to inform the people that there is only one government. “We shall support only the duly constituted government. Let us not be deceived by the CPP-NPA because they destroy the lives of our people. They had caused disintegration among the indigenous peoples,” he said.
Further, Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Molina, Jr., commanding officer of 23IB expressed his appreciation to the tribal leaders for their passion in helping the government in ending local communist armed conflict. “Insurgency is not only the concern of the AFP and PNP, but it is the concern of every Filipino. With your cooperation and support, we can achieve peace and development in our communities,” said Molina. (1Lt. Roel T. Maglalang, 23IB, PA/PIA Agusan del Norte)
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