ILOILO CITY, Aug. 28 (PIA) – Having President Rodrigo Duterte, who has a strong politica,l will is a golden opportunity for the government to win the battle against the communist terrorist group (CTG), said the top Philippine Army officer in Western Visayas.
In his message to the members of the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) 6 during a technical working group meeting this week, Major General Eric Vinoya said this could be the moment we should not waste in putting an end to this peace spoiler (CPP-NDF-NPA insurgency) in the country.
Vinoya, who also co-chairs the Peace, Law Enforcement and Development Cluster or Line of Effort of the regional task force, said this is our golden opportunity to win this battle and finally attain inclusive and sustainable peace in the region, and in the country as a whole.
The official, who is also the commander of the Joint Task Force SPEAR of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Western and Central Visayas, reported that their collective efforts particularly in Region 6 have yielded some tactical victories against the NPA, the armed component of the CTG.
He added that government forces are gaining ground and moving forward in dismantling the guerilla fronts.
The NPAs in Panay and Negros are further weakened after the series of encounters they had with government security forces, said Vinoya. In addition to this, there were numerous surrenders and apprehensions made.
He described this tactical victory as a testament to the convergence of operations of all government agencies with the active participation of the people of Region 6 particularly those who are within the conflict –affected areas.
The Army official said "our government has shifted its viewpoint from treating the local communist armed conflict as purely military and security sector concern to being a socio-political problem that can only be resolved by enhancing the participation of each government agency and of local government units and the different sectors in the society."
He also said that the COVID-19 pandemic should not be a reason for us not to achieve our goals in ending the local communist armed conflict.
“Truly we can do so much together,” said Vinoya. (JBG/JSC/PIA6)
https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1051605
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.