In 2016 President Duterte declared Mindanao to be in a state of national emergency due to lawlessness. That state of emergency has now been lifted.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1206575 |
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has lifted the declaration of state of national emergency on account of lawless violence in Mindanao, considering the improved peace and order situation in the region.
Marcos on Tuesday signed Proclamation 298, repealing Proclamation 55 issued in 2016 which proclaims the state of national emergency because of a “spate of violent and lawless acts across many parts of Mindanao.”
Proclamation 298 emphasizes that the lawless violence perpetrated by private armies and local warlords, bandits, criminal syndicates, terrorist groups, and religious extremists “have been significantly mitigated or reduced.”
“Through successful focused military and law enforcement operations and programs that promote sustainable and inclusive peace, the government has made significant gains in improving and restoring peace and order in the region,” the new proclamation said.
According to Proclamation 298, the lifting of a state of national emergency would help boost economic activity and hasten the recovery of the local economy.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation 55 on Sept. 4, 2016 because of lawless violence in Mindanao, including abductions, hostage-takings and murder of innocent civilians, bombing of power transmission facilities, highway robberies and extortions, attacks on military outposts, assassinations of media people and mass jailbreaks.
Duterte, in issuing Proclamation 55, explained that the acts of violence exhibit the audacity and propensity of the armed lawless groups to “defy the rule of law, sow anarchy, and sabotage the government’s economic development and peace efforts.”
Proclamation 55 was also issued because of government intelligence reports about “credible threats of further terror attacks and other similar acts of violence by lawless elements in other parts of the country, including the metropolitan areas.”
It is simply amazing that the government knew there were credible threats of violence to metropolitan areas and yet the Marawi siege happened anyway. Even more amazing is the government has still not launched a proper investigation into the siege.
Business leaders believe the lifting of the national emergency will increase economic activity.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1206633 |
The lifting of the state of national emergency in Mindanao will boost economic activities in the island region, the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) said Friday.
In a statement, MinDa chairperson Secretary Maria Belen Acosta said the move is expected to usher in more investments in the region.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on July 25 issued Proclamation 298 lifting "effective immediately" former President Rodrigo Duterte's Proclamation 55 declaring a "state of national emergency on account of lawless violence in Mindanao" in Sept. 2016.
Proclamation No. 298 cited that conditions set in the previous declaration "have been significantly mitigated or reduced."
“MinDA’s advocacy to request the President to lift Proclamation 55 was a key result and recommendation of the Mindanao Development Forum in May this year stemming from the strong push of key participants, particularly the private sector and chambers of commerce,” she said.
“Mindanao now enjoys a general atmosphere of peace and order, in effect, its people enjoy the benefits of safe and secured communities resulting from trustworthy police services,” she said.
Mindanao is far from safe and remains on lists of no-go zones for certain countries. Recently a bus station in Cotobato was attacked. It is not the first this year.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1810008/blast-rocks-cotabato-city-bus-terminal-1-wounded |
One person was wounded when several motorcycle-riding men hurled a hand grenade at a bus terminal here early Monday morning.
Maj. John Vincent Bravo, police station 2 chief, said the blast occurred at the gate of Husky Bus terminal along the national highway at Esteros district.
No one has so far claimed responsibility for the incident but investigators said it was meant to threaten the bus firm, which had been reportedly receiving extortion demands.The blast delayed the first trip of the bus which was supposed to leave for General Santos City before 6 a.m. as bomb experts did a post-blast probe.
On May 31 this year, while the city was hosting the regional competition of the Palarong Bangsamoro Region in Muslim Mindanao Athletic Association’s (BARMMAA), three improvised explosive devices (IED)s planted in the same bus terminal here were safely detonated by bomb experts.
More than a month before, on April 17, at least six passengers were wounded after an improvised explosive went off inside a new double-decker bus at the public terminal in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.
Mindanao remains far from safe but these declarations of safety are not about safety. They are about economic development. The same thing is happening in Samar with stepping up their tourism drive.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1206880 |
The Northern Samar provincial government is preparing local stakeholders for the influx of tourists to the province as the insurgency situation dwindled this year.
Local tourism officials have been undergoing capacity-building activities to enhance the municipal tourism development council’s knowledge of tourism concepts, relevant laws, product development, destination marketing, sustainable tourism, resilience, inclusive growth and tourism planning.
Provincial tourism officer Maria Josette Doctor said they continue capacitating local tourism stakeholders although some areas in the province are threatened by armed rebels.
“We should not sit and do nothing just because there is an insurgency problem in Northern Samar. We are making all efforts to promote our province and it is a good thing if we are declared insurgency-free,” Doctor said in a phone interview Tuesday.
The local tourism office has been posting photos and information about destinations in areas infiltrated by the New People’s Army (NPA).
Northern Samar is the most insurgency-affected province in Eastern Visayas, where two active NPA guerilla fronts operate.
These people know full well that Northern Samar has an insurgency problem and are pretending that they have been declared insurgency free. Not only that but they are promoting destinations that are known to be infiltrated by the NPA! What kind of sense does that make??
One new town has been declared insurgency free.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1810315/govt-execs-say-laguna-town-now-npa-free |
Government authorities declared Santa Maria town in Laguna province liberated from the influence of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
Local officials, representatives from different national government agencies, the military, and police in Laguna attended the declaration ceremony held on Monday, July 31, in Gumaca, Quezon province.Mayor Ma. Rocelle Carolino said the declaration of their town with Stable Internal Peace and Security (SIPS) status is “a victory for Santa Maria.”
“If there is no peace and order, there will be no progress,” Carolino said in her message during the ceremony, the Army’s 1st Infantry Battalion said in a report posted on their Facebook page.
The military and police evaluated and validated the declaration.
The SIPS status means that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the National Democratic Front, the NPA, and the rebels’ politico-military organizations “no longer pose a threat to peace and order” in the town, according to the military.
Santa Maria is the second municipality in Laguna to have an “insurgency-free” status.
On July 4, Kalayaan town, once known as a lair of Maoist-inspired guerrillas, became the first NPA-free locality in the province.
During the ceremony, a CPP member and four “people’s militia” formally surrendered to the government
The government is hoping for more such declarations as the offer of amnesty is being readied. The NTF-ELCAC says amnesty is Ley to ending the insurgency.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1207037 |
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said the government's amnesty program is the key to beating the country's long-standing insurgency threat.
"This is a golden opportunity for us to finally put an end to (the) insurgency in our country. We are confident that sooner rather than later, we will be ending the scourge of insurgency in our country," NTF-ELCAC Secretariat executive director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said in a post of the body's Facebook page on Thursday.
He also expressed belief that these "communist terrorist groups" (CTGs) will go for the amnesty program due to the "leadership vacuum" currently being experienced by the insurgents following the death and neutralization of their ranking leaders.
"These CTGs will embrace the amnesty because of the 'leadership vacuum' with the death of (Communist Party of the Philippines founding chair) Jose Maria Sison or Joma and other top cadres, some of whom were already either perished or arrested in military and police encounters," Torres said.
He added that there are only an estimated 1,865 remaining listed members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army- National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
Adding to the woes of these remaining insurgents is the "local peace engagement" which Torres said is preventing the CPP-NPA-NDF from getting back the support of its "mass bases" in far-flung barangays (villages) as the government is pouring in basic social services for peace and development.
Torres said the amnesty will be the country's "vehicle towards the path of final victory" against insurgency.
In the Visayas the AFP is targeting top leaders to avail of amnesty.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1206823 |
The Visayas Command (Viscom) on Monday vowed to sustain focused military operations against officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) in the central Philippines to support the amnesty offered by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, Viscom commander, said while soldiers in the Visayas sustain the momentum in neutralizing communist rebels, they find the need to pressure ranking CPP-NPA members to surrender and avail of the amnesty.
"With the pronouncement of our President to grant amnesty to former rebels, we will sustain our relentless focused military operations to pressure the ranks of the CPP-NPA for them to lay down their arms and return to the folds of the law," Arevalo said in a statement.
Viscom's public information officer, Lt. Col. Israel Galorio, said these ranking officials operate under one remaining guerrilla front active in Northern Samar.
"What we are sure about is that the members of this guerrilla front are in low morale, considering the fall of the two of their leaders in recent security operations," Galorio told the Philippine News Agency.
Seeing as the CPP-NPA has already rejected this offer of amnesty it remains to be seen what will happen when the offer becomes official.
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