CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The office of the Regional Peace and Order Council and the Regional Development Council met over the weekend where they mapped out plans to put an end into the decades-long insurgency problem.
This developed as the RPOC and RDC sponsored a joint resolutuion declaring Jose Maria Sison-led Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) Person Non-Grata and undesirables at least in Region 3.
“The joint resolution also condemned, to the highest form, the unlawful and illegal activities of communist rebels who have been pestering businesses and peace-loving citizens in the countryside in Central Luzon,” said Carlito Galvez Jr., Cabinet Officer for the Regional Development and Security (CORDS) during the first organizational meeting Friday (July 12) here.
Police records showed that no significant activities initiated by the communist rebels have been reported in previous years up to the present.”In fact, NPA rebels seems to have ceased its existence in the region even during the recent May elections, said Joel Napoleon Coronel, director fo the Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) and chair of the RPOC.
Communist rebels have been known for their extortion activities for candidates campaigning in the countryside by imposing “permit to campaign fees”. Galvez, also the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, said the RPOC and RDC also passed a resolutuion calling for the inclusion of the Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) in the school curriculum.
Galvez also appointed Rolando Asuncion, regional director of National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) as deputy director of CORDS in region 3.
CORDS is a mechanism that aims to link regional and sub-regional levels of government to national agencies in order to harmonize peace, development and security efforts, and consequently, formulate solutions to resolve the nation’s decades-long insurgency problem.