Army intensifies Community Support Program in NegOr villages

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 12, 2020): Army intensifies Community Support Program in NegOr villages (By Mary Judaline Partlow)

DUMAGUETE CITY – The Philippine Army is relentlessly pursuing efforts to clear more barangays in Negros Oriental of insurgency, such as the implementation of its Community Support Program (CSP).

Maj. Cenon Pancito III, spokesperson for the 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) of the Philippine Army (PA), in an interview on Thursday said priority is given to six villages that are still affected by activities of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

He said the CSP is “a tool for clearing the barangays, kaya ayaw na ayaw ng NPA ang CSP at palagi nilang nire-reklamo yun (that is why the NPA is against the CSP and has objected to it)".

The six barangays are Bayog and Lumapao in Canlaon City; Carol-an in Ayungon; Nalundan in Bindoy; Pansiao in Manjuyod; and Luyang in Mabinay.

These barangays, Pancito said, do not necessarily have active NPA fighters but these are stronghold areas of the NPA as well as of their mass base.

“Actually, barangay affectation is the behavior of a certain barangay towards the government. Ibig sabihin, pag na infiltrate ka, na influence ka, yung behavior ng community (It means that once an area is infiltrated or influenced, the behavior of the community) is not for the government but for the NPA,” he said.

“The guerilla bases and the NPA strongholds are there because of the support of the masses and the support of the community,” he added in a mix of English and Cebuano.

The towns of Mabinay and Manjuyod have been recently included in the priority areas of the joint government efforts to address the insurgency problem in the province through the Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (TF-ELCAC).

The local TF-ELCAC in Mabinay and Manjuyod were launched with a "Dagyawan: Talakayan sa Mamamayan" consultation between the people and government agencies involved in this effort anchored on President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 70 or the Whole-of-Nation approach to attain inclusive and sustainable peace.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1121654