Insurgency: Stable Internal Peace And Security

 The AFP has finally declared Negros Occidental has achieved stable internal peace and security. 

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2024/03/06/2338459/stable-internal-peace-and-security-declared-negros-occidental

Negros Occidental is in a state of stable internal peace and security (SIPS).

The provincial joint peace and security coordinating council composed of the Army, Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Coast Guard made the recommendation for the SIPS declaration during a meeting held at Camp Alfredo Montelibano Sr. in this city yesterday.

“We have achieved a very important milestone in our quest for attaining peace in Negros Occidental,” Col. Victor Llapitan, deputy commander of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (IB), said.

Provinces declared in a state of SIPS are considered cleared and unaffected by communist insurgents and relatively peaceful, Maj. Mervin Rosal, 303rd IB civil-military operations chief, said.

Rosal said this means the local government unit and PNP acknowledge that only law enforcement operations are needed – an indication that the province is ”normalized.”

The joint declaration will be forwarded to the Negros Occidental Provincial Peace and Order Council and Western Visayas Regional Peace and Order Council for concurrence.

Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, Visayas Command chief, clarified that declaring a state of SIPS does not mean an area is insurgency-free since remnants of communist groups will be the subject of relentless and focused military operations.

Arevalo said the military is bent on preventing the resurgence of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (NPA) in communities cleared of communist insurgents.

That is not the same as declaring the region insurgency free. There are still 33 NPA fighters left which is an insignificant number being less than a squad. 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/3/5/number-of-npa-fighters-drop-to-33-in-negros-occidental

The number of New People’s Army combatants, including the Regional Strike Force in Negros Occidental, has dropped to 33 from 258 in 2019, Brig. Gen. Orlando Edralin, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, said.

Edralin said that the Central Negros 1, CN 2, and the Northern Negros Front (NNF) have been dismantled.

Thus, he said, the number of these guerilla fronts is now considered insignificant as they are only less than the size of squad.

Edralin said they are having difficulty in locating rebel remnants as their number decreases. 

But he said they are establishing links with their relatives and friends and collaborate with different government agencies, especially local chief executives, to convince them to surrender through local peace engagements.

“We would not want more rebels to die, since we always wanted to settle and to end the local communist armed conflict through peaceful means,” Edralin said.

Based on the joint community evaluation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, Edralin said that the three dismantled NPA guerilla fronts, including those of the RSF, have 49 firearms left.

This declaration means Negros Occidental is now open for business. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1220228

The recommendation of government forces to declare a state of stable internal peace and security (SIPS) in Negros Occidental, after the dismantling of all communist guerrilla fronts in Negros Island, is seen to attract more investments to the province.

Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said in an interview on Wednesday that he hopes “investors will feel more confident” coming here “knowing that there is peace and order” in Negros Occidental.  

“We’ve always wanted to reach that level that there is stable peace and order situation. I think this is also based on the fact that all the fronts of the CPP-NPA have been dismantled. At least, the government that they have set up here in the province has been dismantled,” he told reporters.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, commander of 3ID, said the joint recommendation through the JPSCC is “an important document that will jumpstart the declaration of SIPS in Negros Island."

“This marks a milestone in the quest for peace. As we aim to declare Negros in a state of SIPS, the support, collaboration, and commitment of government agencies and stakeholders reflect a significant initiative towards ensuring peace and stability,” he added.

Those are odd statements because there has been quite a lot of investment in Negros Occidental. In 2018 the local government laid bare a roadmap to attract investors.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1049298

The provincial government of Negros Occidental will create a market-driven investment roadmap to attract more investors.

This is the province’s next step after hosting the “Invest in Negros” business forum on Wednesday at the Dusit Thani Hotel Manila as a side event of the ongoing 33rd Negros Trade Fair at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City, which will run until October 30.

Joy Ogan, executive assistant to Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., said they will use the inputs from the forum as the basis to come up with an investment roadmap that will include programs making the province more investment-ready.

“This will help us engage better with investors,” she added.

Ogan said through the business forum, the provincial government has also recognized the need for more collaboration with the private sector.

“The role of the government is more on regulatory and creating a positive environment for businesses to grow thus, we need to have more engagements and dialogues especially on the creation of local ordinances allowing investment to grow,” she said.

There is not a single word about the insurgency preventing investment in Negros Occidental. Could it be that the NPA which is relegated to the mountainous hinterlands did not pose a threat to investors in Negros Occidental? Could it be that this declaration is all about making the AFP look good? They are already planning on declaring Panay Island to have achieved stable internal peace and security. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1220329

The Philippine Army hopes to declare a state of Stable Internal Peace and Security (SIPS) in Panay before this year ends by working on dismantling the two already-weakened guerrilla fronts on the island.

Lt. Col. J-Jay Javines, chief of the 3rd Division Public Affairs Office (DPAO), said the Central Panay and Southern Panay Fronts of the New People’s Army (NPA) no longer have any hold on any of the barangays in these areas after losing their political-military structure in the villages.

“We already have zero-affected barangays. If we dismantled them by the third quarter, then we will facilitate the declaration of SIPS,” he said in an interview on Thursday.

Javines said the declaration of SIPS could boost investor confidence.

Aside from having a stable power supply, the business sector looks at security as a parameter when investing.

He said the Feb. 28 encounter with members of the Southern Panay Front, Komiteng Rehiyon Panay in San Joaquin town in Iloilo, was a big blow to the communist group.

The encounter left four members of the communist group dead while one was captured. The group also lost several firearms.

“They will have difficulty looking for a replacement if they lose their senior officials,” he said, adding that their operations resulted in the neutralization of their squad leader, finance, and medical officers.

He also credited the support of civilians for providing them with information.

“The popular support of our civilians is a very important indicator. If we can get information from them, it means they are no longer supporting the armed group,” he added.

It may be good for business but will that help alleviate the poverty in which so many Filipinos live? 

Former rebels are being given wider access to health care services. 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/3/8/peace-at-last-ex-rebels-combatants-given-wider-access-to-medical-services-by-national-government

Former Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) rebels and decommissioned combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will now be able to access vital health services in public hospitals through the newly established partnership between the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) and Department of Health (DOH).

Peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. and Health Sec. Teodoro Herbosa signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) recently to include former communist rebels and decommissioned Moro combatants as beneficiaries of the "Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP)" project by the DOH.

Under the MAIFIP, the beneficiaries will be able to avail of health services in public hospitals throughout the country with financial and medical assistance provided by the national government.

In his remarks during the signing ceremony, Galvez underscored that "health and peace must go together."

“There are more or less 40,000 former rebels and CPP-NPA [members] who returned to the folds of the law. There are also 727 former NPA rejectionist groups in the areas of Aklan, Regions 6 and 7, and Davao who will be beneficiaries of this project," he explained.

Galvez noted that the provision of medical assistance is aside from the annual budget allocation of P58.8 million that has been allotted under OPAPRU’s budget to fund the PhilHealth premiums of former rebels and decommissioned combatants.

The implementation of conflict-sensitive health programs, such as the one to be carried out by OPAPRU and DOH through the MOA, will "allow both agencies to work together to provide recipients with much-needed health services," the peace adviser added.

It is also seen to strengthen the government’s peace-building efforts as it "sends a clear and strong signal that it is determined to improve the lives of the beneficiaries and support their journey towards their complete and meaningful transformation."

The provision of socioeconomic assistance and services are among the key components of the Transformation and Normalization Programs of the national government that seek to sustain and build on the gains of the comprehensive Philippine peace process. 

The Transformation Program is a community-driven intervention that is being implemented in parallel with the Local Peace Engagement (LPE) initiative which aims to uplift the socioeconomic conditions of former rebels, their families, and communities.

On the other hand, the Normalization Program, which is under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is designed to help decommissioned MILF combatants to return to mainstream society as peaceful and productive citizens.

"Through this MOA, we can provide the medical and financial needs of former rebels. Pilipino rin sila (They are also Filipinos) and they are entitled to the assistance of the government, especially of the Department of Health para maramdaman nila ang kalinga ng gobyerno (so they can feel that the government takes care of them)," Herbosa said.

Meanwhile in Samar the Army is dialoguing with the families of the remaining rebels in order to convince them to surrender. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1220350

Military and local government officials in Samar will hold more peace forums and dialogue to convince the remaining members of the New People’s Army (NPA) through their families to return to the folds of the law and avail of the benefits offered by the government.

Philippine Army’s 802nd Infantry Brigade commander Brig. General Noel Vestuir said Friday they are strengthening the Friends Rescued Engagement through their Families (FReE Families) project to completely wipe out insurgency in Samar province.

During the launch on March 5, the army and the local government gathered family members of active NPA members in upland Bacubac village in Basey, Samar, with 29 family members present. Their kin are among the 17 active rebels who are residents of Samar.

Vestuir said they would hold the same dialogue in other areas of Samar province next week.

“The familial influence held by the family and relatives of the remaining active NPA members under the NPA sub-regional committee plays an integral role in our aim to end the armed struggle in Samar through peaceful means,” Vestuir said.

The FReE Families program optimizes the local government’s efforts to link and convince the remaining NPA members through the active participation of the rebels’s families to work for the peaceful surrender of their loved ones and take advantage of the benefits through the Enhanced Local Integration Program (E-CLIP).

E-CLIP is a government strategy to convince active rebels to return to the fold of the law by providing financial packages and assistance.

In a statement, Samar Governor Sharee Ann Tan said she is optimistic that “the current efforts through the engaged families will work for the surrender of the remaining rebels who are still in the mountains.”

The governor said the identified families and relatives of NPA members are the principal actors for this program, with the end goal of having the NPA members, our target, leave the armed struggle and join them in living a peaceful life. 

Interesting that the AFP knows the exact identities of the remaining rebels yet they cannot put an end to the rebellion.