By
Redjie Melvic Cawis
BAGUIO CITY-- A former armed group in the
region that started the pursuit of
Cordillera regional autonomy was accepted as a new member in the Cordillera
Regional Peace and Order Council.
The Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA)
now known as the Cordillera Forum for Peace and Development (CFPD) was accepted
in the council during the fourth quarter RPOC meeting here recently.
The CFPD has been requesting to become member
of the RPOC after the CPLA-Cordillera Bodong Administration signed a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine government
last year towards the group's final disposition of arms and forces and its
transformation into a socio-economic force.
CFPD chairman Arsenio Humiding earlier presented
the RPOC documents including registration
to the Securities and Exchange Commission of their group proving that they have
been transformed into a socio-economic group pursuant to the provisions of the
MOA.
RPOC chairman, Ifugao Gov. Eugene
Balitang, said that the application of
the CFPD to be a member of the RPOC was put on hold in previous meetings due to
process they have been undertaking on their
transformation as unarmed force.
The Philippine Army battalions based in the Cordillera namely the 501st, 502nd and
503rd Infantry Brigades were reportedly supportive
of the move of the former rebel group to join the RPOC and help in peace and
order efforts in the region.
The past months, the CFPD conducted profiling
of its members in Cordillera provinces.
At present, more than 1,000 members have been
profiled.
Through the Office of the Presidential
Adviser on the Peace Process, the Police Regional Office – Cordillera also conducted
inventory and valuation of
firearms and explosives of the
CFPD members.
The turn-over was conducted in six provinces
in the region but the police are still waiting for the final turn-over of
firearms and explosives after only 386 were valuated out of the more than 600
which were previously reported by the CPLA.
No comments:
Post a Comment