Esperon: Ilocos free of CPP-NPA rebels

By Anne Hazel Fajardo-Flores

SAN FERNANDO CITY – National Security Adviser and Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security in Region I Sec. Hermogenes C. Esperon said in Pangasinan May 28, Region 1 is now free of armed insurgents, and it is the duty of barangays are to see to it that they will not come back so all could benefit from the dividends of peace.
    “I am confident that the leaders in the provinces are dynamic, and under their leadership, the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s
    Army- National Democratic Front) will not flourish if they adapt the antidotes to insurgency which is – good governance, good economy and good citizenship,” Esperon said.
    This, as the Joint Regional and Provincial Task Forces to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) brought its advocacy to Ilocos region barangays through sessions from May 24 to 28 which Esperon joined in a virtual message.
    “Nag-imbita kami ng mga barangay opisyales at mga indigenous peoples management representatives o IPMRs upang palawigin ang kaalaman nila tungkol sa communist groups o ang CPP-NPA-NDF,” said Interior and Local Government Ilocos regional director James F. Fadrilan.
    “Nais din naming lubos na maunawaan ng aming mga nasasakupang barangays ang tungkol sa Executive Order No. 70 framework, at upang malaman nila ang mga kasalukuyang programa ng bawat national government agency para sa ating komunidad,” he added.
    According to DILG-1, the activity conducted online gathered about 7,000 barangays officials and IPMRs in provinces of the region.
     The activity was headed by the DILG, together with the Philippine Information Agency, which is the lead of the Strategic Communications Cluster, and the National Economic and Development Authority under the Regional Development Council (RDC-1), mandated as its secretariat.
    Other partner agencies involved in the sessions were the 702nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army, Philippine National Police, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, National Commission on Indigenous People, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the provincial governments of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan. – PIA Ilocos