In the wake of ambush incidents
TACLOBAN CITY-The Army leadership here in the region has welcomed the decision to continue the implementation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). Major General Edgardo de Leon, the commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Division, said that the continuation of the ELCAC would ensure that more members of the armed wing of the communist group in the country will return to the folds of the law.
de Leon said that since the ELCAC was enforced in 2019, 418 regular members of the New People’s Army (NPA) have surrendered to government authorities. “And this number could be higher considering that this figure was of May 3 of this year. (That is why) we are happy that the ELCAC will still continue as this will pave the way for more surrender (of the NPAs),” he said. Sec. Clarita Carlos, the national security adviser of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. who sits as the vice chair of the NTF-ELCAC, earlier said that she is for the continuation of the said program and even offered an amnesty program for the rebels. Eastern Visayas is among the remaining regions in the country where there is still a presence of the communist armed group. For the past few days now, skirmishes between government personnel and NPA members have occurred, the latest of which was last Tuesday which resulted in the death of a soldier and the wounding of five others in Catubig town, Northern Samar. The NTF-ELCAC is a task force organized under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte using the so-called ‘whole-of-nation approach’ in the hope of ending the insurgency problem of the country. As part of its approach, it offers financial and livelihood assistance to rebels who return to the folds of the law and provide projects to barangays which were considered to have been ‘influenced’ by the communist group.
de Leon said that since the ELCAC was enforced in 2019, 418 regular members of the New People’s Army (NPA) have surrendered to government authorities. “And this number could be higher considering that this figure was of May 3 of this year. (That is why) we are happy that the ELCAC will still continue as this will pave the way for more surrender (of the NPAs),” he said. Sec. Clarita Carlos, the national security adviser of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. who sits as the vice chair of the NTF-ELCAC, earlier said that she is for the continuation of the said program and even offered an amnesty program for the rebels. Eastern Visayas is among the remaining regions in the country where there is still a presence of the communist armed group. For the past few days now, skirmishes between government personnel and NPA members have occurred, the latest of which was last Tuesday which resulted in the death of a soldier and the wounding of five others in Catubig town, Northern Samar. The NTF-ELCAC is a task force organized under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte using the so-called ‘whole-of-nation approach’ in the hope of ending the insurgency problem of the country. As part of its approach, it offers financial and livelihood assistance to rebels who return to the folds of the law and provide projects to barangays which were considered to have been ‘influenced’ by the communist group.
