73 ex-NPAs in SoCot avail of E-CLIP
Mindanao Peace Process • 11:15 AM Thu Apr 22, 2021
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By:
John M. Unson
KORONADAL CITY --- More than 70 reforming former New People’s Army guerillas from across South Cotabato province are now being reintegrated into the local communities, officials said Thursday.
Brig. Gen. Roy Galido, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo and the Department of the Interior and Local Government facilitated last Monday the grant of P5.7 million worth of livelihood assistance to the 73 NPAs who have returned to the fold of law.
The symbolic event was held in a government facility in Koronadal City.
The 73 former NPAs surrendered in batches in recent months through the joint intercession of Tamayo and his constituent-mayors and the 601st Infantry Brigade.
The group is beneficiary of the national government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program, or E-CLIP, whose South Cotabato provincial committee is led by Tamayo.
Officials of the Police Regional Office-12 and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said Thursday 204 NPAs from different towns in South Cotabato have yielded in recent months through the PPOC’s backchannel peace initiatives.
The South Cotabato PPOC program on reintegrating former NPAs into mainstream society is in support of Malacañang’s Executive Order 70, also known as the “Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict.”
Galido, in an earlier report to Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said they are expecting the surrender soon of more NPAs in South Cotabato through interventions by local executives.
“They have been hearing a lot about the benefits of E-CLIP and the willingness of the South Cotabato provincial government to help them start life all over again,” Galido said.
Uy, who has jurisdiction over military units in the adjoining provinces of South Cotabato, Sarangani and the cities of Koronadal and General Santos, lauded Galido and the Tamayo-led PPOC for having secured the surrender in batches of the 73 NPAs who received livelihood support last Monday.
“Credit has to go to local executives in South Cotabato for this. It is the local government units and the provincial government that worked hard for these NPAs to surrender and avail of E-CLIP,” Uy said.