Army brigade assures monitoring of BDP projects

Philippine News Agency (Mar 10, 2022): Army brigade assures monitoring of BDP projects (By Teofilo Garcia, Jr.)

The Army’s 102nd Infantry Brigade (102Bde) is closely monitoring the implementation of 108 Barangay Development Program (BDP) projects in areas cleared from the influence of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Brig. Gen. Leonel Nicolas, the 102Bde commander, said Thursday the 108 infrastructure, agricultural, social services, and other BDP projects they are monitoring are located in 82 beneficiary barangays in the Zamboanga Peninsula and Misamis Occidental.

Nicolas said these projects are vital in providing long-term solutions in addressing the root causes of the insurgency which, he said, would eventually uplift the lives of the residents.

“We are now at the final stage for the total defeat of the (NPA’s) Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee as their strength is now dwindling,” Nicolas said in a statement.

“The protection of these projects is an integral part of our campaign to ensure peace and promote development in the entire Zamboanga Peninsula and Misamis Occidental,” he added.

Meanwhile, joint military and police forces are currently deployed in the two barangays of Sergio Osmeña Sr., Zamboanga del Norte as "sustainment teams" in support of the Retooled Community Support Program of the government to protect cleared barangays from possible recovery efforts of the NPA.

“For 2021, two barangays of Sergio Osmeña Sr., specifically, Barangays Bagumbayan and Nazareth, were beneficiaries of the PHP20 million BDP fund through the efforts of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict," said Lt. Col. Nolasco Coderos Jr., the Army’s 97th Infantry Battalion commander.

Coderos said residents of the two villages decided to use the funds for the concreting of farm-to-market roads following a series of consultations and dialogues.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1169491