Gov't services reach former NPA-influenced village in Cotabato Province

From the Philippine Information Agency (Oct 28, 2020): Gov't services reach former NPA-influenced village in Cotabato Province (By Danilo E. Doguiles) 

ARAKAN, Cotabato Province, Oct. 28 (PIA) -- Regional line agencies and municipal and provincial government units as well as police and military troops joined forces in a serbisyo caravan at Barangay Tumanding, Arakan in Cotabato Province Tuesday, October 27.

The serbisyo caravan also signaled the start of a more comprehensive government convergence to address the peace and development needs of the community as a target site of Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP) in a whole-of-nation approach to fight and defeat local communist armed conflict.

"We are very grateful that finally we are enjoying the true government that we have longed for. Indeed, I salute all government agencies, from the national level to the provincial and municipal government, for complying with the mandate of President Duterte through EO 70 for a whole-of-nation approach, united and helping each other to achieve that goal that nobody will go astray from the right path," Barangay Chairman Dante Tumanding told Philippine Information Agency in an interview.

Tumanding said that for decades, the influence of the communist terrorist group in his barangay was significant to a degree that the entire community was red-tagged. Some of the villagers joined the New Peoples Army and 95 percent of his people were identified as "mass base."

Almost all of the residents in the area are of the Manobo tribe.

"The influence of the leftist group was really significant. People here were organized; but we cannot be faulted for this because in the past we never felt the presence of the government. We cannot be blamed that we sympathized with them because we did not know the government," Tumanding emphasized.

This situation gradually changed when government troops came in and conducted Community Support Program (CSP).

Nearly two years ago, the village chairperson said, the community returned to the fold of the government with help from the military-led CSP, which further resulted in more services from municipal and provincial governments as well as from regional line agencies.

"Since then, even before this serbisyo caravan, we have enjoyed basic services, livelihood, supplemental feeding program and many others from the government," he said.

After the village "cleared" of the presence of the communist terrorist group, Barangay Tumanding was included among more than 60 barangays in SOCCKSARGEN Region for the RCSP.

Having their barangay included in the RCSP, residents of Tumanding are looking forward to other projects intended to sustain peace and development in the area as indicated in their development plan.

Among the priority projects they expect to be implemented in their village are concreting of the road to Tumanding, improvement of access roads to sitios, establishment of a water supply system, and establishment of a high school, Capt. Tumanding said.

As an RCSP-target area, Barangay Tumanding will initially be allotted P20 million worth of projects, accordind to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

During the serbisyo caravan, representatives of regional line agencies explained to residents the services each agency offers and their commitments in line with the barangay's development action plan.

Regional line agencies represented were DILG, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Public Works and Highways, National Housing Authority, Department of Education, Philippine Information Agency, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Land Transportation Office, PhilHealth, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Services brought by the Provincial Government of Cotabato included supplemental feeding, fluoride treatment and dental supply provision, haircutting, circumcision, animal dispersal, college scholarship, and food packs distribution.

They also handed out initial commitments identified during the community immersion and planning sessions such as assorted fruit tree seedlings, rubber seedlings, coco seednuts, family food packs, food packs for malnourished children, corn seeds, wheelchairs and crutches for persons with disability, buntis kits, and assorted medicine supply for the Barangay Health Unit, toilet bowls for zero defecation program of three sitios, and disaster preparedness handbooks.

Arakan PNP also distributed slippers and school supplies for children.

In his message, chairperson Tumanding said: "To the people of Tumanding, let us unite. Let us stop our camaraderie with the left. Let us abide by the rule of law because there remains no reason for us to follow them (the communist terrorist group). I know that you regret the past, the decades that we were with them. This is the time that we give 100 percent of our allegiance to the true government." (DED-PIA XII)

https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1057296