Thursday, September 10, 2020

4-day 'service caravan' benefits 1K Agusan Norte residents

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 10, 2020): 4-day 'service caravan' benefits 1K Agusan Norte residents (By Alexander Lopez)



SERVICE CARAVAN. Over a thousand residents Barangay Doña Telesfora, Tubay, Agusan del Norte, benefit from the various services and goods provided during the four-day 'service caravan' from Sept. 8-11, 2020. The village was formerly identified as a communist rebel-influenced area. (Photo courtesy of 29IB)

Various government agencies have pooled their resources together for a four-day "service caravan" that would benefit over a thousand residents in the Agusan del Norte town of Tubay, the Army's 29th Infantry Battalion said on Thursday.

In a statement, Capt. Miguel Borromeo, 29IB civil-military operations officer, said the caravan runs from Tuesday to Friday this week in Barangay Doña Telesfora, Tubay, and organized by the local government with the backing of the Army battalion under its Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP).


“The RCSP is an immersion activity in line with the guidelines on Memorandum Circular No. 2019-169 of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG),” Borromeo said, adding it also forms part of the Executive Order No. 70, which seeks to end local communist armed conflicts in the countryside.

Residents have received basic services such as psycho-social support, local civil registration, circumcision among the children, subdermal implant, prenatal check-up, free haircut, and distribution of various fruit trees seeds as well as food packs.

According to 29IB, Barangay Doña Telesfora is previously considered as a conflict-affected area but has already been cleared from the influence of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) following the initiatives undertaken by the Army's Community Support Team (CST).

Mayor Fidel Garcia said the outreach was "a clear manifestation that the government is faithful to and serious about its mandated duty to help and support its people."

“This is a strong indication that government agencies are now more willing to work together to bring to the community the basic services right at their doorstep. It is hoped that these initiatives will make people less likely to consider taking up the armed conflict to get the services that they need,” Garcia said.

Lt. Col. Isagani Criste, 29IB commander, underscored the importance of EO 70, saying it unified the effort of various government agencies in addressing development issues in disadvantaged and conflict-affected areas.

“This is what the whole-of-nation approach means, and we are supposed to be continuously doing it not just because it is our mandate, but because it is all part of our commitment as public servants,” Criste said.

He also urged the residents to stop providing support to the NPA.

"I hope you will realize that it is the government who has the heart and capacity to help you, not the Communist NPA Terrorists. Stop trusting and supporting them for they will just use and destroy you,”
Criste said.


https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1114985

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