Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) expressed its full support to the formal condemnation of National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) on the atrocities committed by communist terrorist groups (CTGs) to indigenous cultural communities (ICCs).
NCIP en banc passed on October 20 three resolutions namely condemning the continued killing of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) by the CPP-NPA-NDF; condemning the radicalization, recruitment, and exploitation of IP youth by the CPP-NPA-NDF; and condemning the acts of the CPP-NPA-NDF in creating their “IP people’s organizations” misrepresenting the true interests and situations of ICCs.
“With about 30 percent of IPs in the country from Northern and Central Luzon, we are committed to ending CTG’s immoral and unlawful exploitation of the IPs as means for long-drawn armed struggle stained by violence and disrespect for human rights,” NOLCOM Commander Lieutenant General Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr. said.
“As the IPs are the most vulnerable sector in our society, NOLCOM extends its fervent support to the NCIP in ensuring that their rights are respected and that they are protected from the deception, radicalization and exploitation of CTGs,” he added.
Burgos also cited NOLCOM’s initiatives that aim to alleviate the living condition of IPs in Northern and Central Luzon while preventing them from being exploited by rebels.
It includes the completion of a 70-meter long, anti-corrosive, and 100% galvanized steel hanging bridge in barangay Umiray in Dingalan, Aurora.
This was in partnership with GMA Kapuso Foundation and the municipal government.
“The bridge will benefit hundreds of IPs living in the barangay, as they will not have to take the risk of crossing the 70-meter-wide river bed for their daily needs,” he added.
NOLCOM likewise signed a partnership agreement with the municipal government of Porac in Pampanga and Philippine Business for Social Progress for the construction of 60 housing units for IP families.
These families were identified to be living in high-risk zones.