20 ex-rebels complete biz dev’t training

From the Philippine News Agency (May 19, 2021): 20 ex-rebels complete biz dev’t training (By Nanette Guadalquiver)

BIZ TRAINING. Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II speaks before former RPA-ABB rebels attending the Business Development Seminar-Workshop at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City. The two-day training, which ended on Tuesday (May 18, 2021), was facilitated by the University of St. La Salle-Bacolod Graduate School and Continuing Education in collaboration with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the Province of Negros Occidental. (Photo courtesy of Benja Lucasan)

Some 20 former rebels under the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPM-P/RPA-ABB) Tabara-Paduano Group (TPG) have been trained to improve their entrepreneurial and management skills to help with their businesses.

The former rebels attended a two-day Business Development Seminar-Workshop facilitated by the University of St. La Salle-Bacolod Graduate School and Continuing Education and ended on Tuesday afternoon.

The training, held in collaboration with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the Province of Negros Occidental, was held at the Negros Residences here.

In a statement on Wednesday, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II said the provincial government headed by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson recognizes the commitment of the participants to engage in productive endeavors.

“We assure them of the province’s continued support to their peace and development projects for their respective communities,” he added.

The training was attended by participants from Barangay Dulao, Bago City, and Barangay Tabigue, E.B. Magalona, the two chapters of the six identified Peace and Development Communities of the RPM-P/RPA-ABB TPG now known as the Kapatiran Para sa Progresong Panlipunan Inc.

The RPM-P/RPA-ABB TPG took on the name Kapatiran as part of its institutional transformation.

The participants are currently engaged in social entrepreneurial activities, which are hollow blocks-making for the Tabigue Chapter, and vegetable farming and poultry raising for the Kapatiran Farm Workers of Dulao Chapter.

They have been allowed to improve their business and management skills and strengthen their business processes through discussions on Organizational Transformation and Development, Business Registration, Basic Accounting, orientation on Cooperative Development Authority accreditation, Basic Entrepreneurship, and Value-Chain Analysis.

The RPA-ABB, a breakaway group of the New People’s Army (NPA), and its political wing, the RPM-P, signed a peace agreement with the national government in December 2000.

It later split into two – the TPG led by Veronica Tabara and Stephen Paduano, and the Nilo de la Cruz Group.

Only the TPG continued the process of finalizing a draft closure agreement with the government.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1140789