CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, PAMPANGA – Governor Dennis ‘Delta’ Pineda enjoined the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) to sustain the insurgency-free status of Pampanga.
To do this, the governor urged the PTF-ELCAC to start organizing task forces in the 505 barangays of the province.
“We are asking all the barangay captains in our province to form their own task forces to sustain our province’s insurgency-free status,” Governor Delta, Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) chairperson, said.
Christian Red Mejia, focal person from the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC), commended Pampanga for having convened a resolution to create a provincial task force.
It can be recalled that the PPOC and Provincial Development Council (PDC) signed a joint resolution on August 23, 2019 to establish PTF-ELCAC in the province. Currently, Pampanga is second province in the region, after Aurora, to have organized PTF-ELCAC.
The creation of PTF-ELCAC is aimed at condemning the activities and atrocities that reds do in the province pursuant to Executive Order No. 70, series of 2018, and Memorandum Circular 2018-211 by the Department of Interior and Local Government.
However, Mejia stressed that aside from the provincial task force, there is a need to fast track the creation of ELCAC at the barangay level since the barangay is at the grassroots of public service.
In a dialogue with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Provincial Director Myrvi Apostol-Fabia, Col. Felix Emeterio Valdez of the Armed Forces of the Philippines said that the local government units are required to replicate ELCAC in their respective municipalities.
Likewise, pursuant to Memorandum Circular 2019-125, all barangay captains are mandated to create their own task force ELCAC in their respective barangays.
Once the task forces are created, the provincial government will implement the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP) with the inter-agency efforts at the barangay level. This will aim to strengthen the coordination and convergence with the barangays to benefit the vulnerable sectors.
Governor Delta said, “We have to amplify our support to the people, so they would not ally with insurgents.”
“We cannot achieve progress and development if we do not maintain the peace and order situation in the province,” the governor added.
To take the preliminary step to achieve all these, the barangay captains will assemble in a forum on Thursday (September 12, 2019) to discuss the creation of task force, real estate tax amnesty, health issues, etc.
These all transpired during the meeting with the PTF-ELCAC this morning. — Keanu Aebramh G. Costales / Pampanga PIO