Thursday, September 10, 2020

RTF-ELCAC bats for ending communist armed conflict, curving COVID

From the Philippine Information Agency (Sep 10, 2020): RTF-ELCAC bats for ending communist armed conflict, curving COVID  (By Jan Albert K. Araña)

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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Sept. 10 (PIA) – “We are committed to the cause of ending the local communist armed conflict and we are also committed to addressing the various consequences of COVID and ensuring that we will be able to flatten the curve.”

This was the statement of the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) Secretariat and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-10 Regional Director Mylah Faye Aurora Cariño in an interview on the status of the implementation of Executive Order No. 70 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018.

As the country faces two threats this year, one against the communist terror group known as the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed group of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the other is the health crisis brought about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the RTF-ELCAC 10 is committed to pursuing the whole-of-nation approach spelled out by EO70 while addressing COVID 19.

Part of the fight to end the NPA activities, RTF-ELCAC 10 created and approved the creation of one additional task group that will focus on ending the resource generation of the said communist terror group.

“We approved the creation of one task group that would take care or undertake activities to end the extortion activities or the resource generation activities of the CPP-NPA Terrorist Group,” she said.

The resource generation scheme of the CPP-NPA is in the form of extortion or what they call revolutionary taxation exacted from businessmen or companies, and those who would not give in to the demand of the NPAs, the latter would burn down their equipment or attack the businesses.


NEDA-10 Regional Director Mylah Faye Aurora Cariño shares light moment during interview after RTF-ELCAC full council meeting. (VPSBautista/PIA10)

"Insurgency existed in the country for over 50 years, thus, ending it is the main priority of this current administration so that inclusive development to the countryside will not be stalled and that the possible misery that this armed group brings to the people will be stopped. All the agencies that are part of the RTF-ELCAC clusters are one with the President in ending the local threat, as we have a President who is really strong-willed and who is really determined to end the scourge of insurgency," Cariño said.

Aiming to stop the CPP-NPA will not only bring peace to the land but also the much-awaited development especially in areas which had not been reached by the government due to threats posed by the communist terror group.

“It is not just to end insurgency but the end in sight is to really bring development to our blighted areas, our conflict-affected areas, geographically isolated areas, to our poverty-stricken areas. Our goal is to make progress for everyone and not just for some,” she explained.

Looking at Covergence Areas for Development (CAPDev) program using the IPALAMDAG system, most of the government programs are concentrated in the urban areas and coastal areas, and only a portion is reaching to the geographically isolated areas, Cariño stressed.

Thus, through the full implementation and success of EO 70, the government is altering the landscape of development where the primordial or prime consideration is being focused on the lagging areas which are the conflict-affected, poverty-stricken and geographically isolated areas here in the region, the lady NEDA-10 director added.

From the first quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2020, the RTF-ELCAC 10 has been able to mobilize 1,538 projects amounting to P35 billion and some have already been completed while there are also projects that have been delayed due to the pandemic crisis the country is experiencing.

“So now it looks like we are in so many things; but, while we are in so many things this is actually interconnected and the interconnection lies in the fact that our goal is to help people and bring them in their desired state which is matatag (stable), maginhawa (convenient) at panatag na buhay para sa lahat (peaceful life for all),” Cariño concluded. (JAKA/PIA10)

https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1052718

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