Mindanao Times

Central Luzon declares Reds ‘persona non grata’

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CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) 3 has declared the Communist Party of the Philippine­s-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) as ‘persona non grata’ in Central Luzon.

This was among the several resolution­s issued by the RTF-ELCAC III at the Kingsborou­gh Internatio­nal Convention Center in this city, which strongly condemned the “unlawful and illegal activities” being carried out by the CPP-NPA in the area.

“We are gathered here with one common objective: to finally put an end to the communist insurgency in Region 3,” Presidenti­al Peace Adviser Carlito G. Galvez Jr. said during the first meeting of the RTFELCAC 3 here on Saturday (July 13).

“And we are going to address it by the strong cooperatio­n as mandated by the Executive Order (EO) 70,” said Galvez, who has been designated by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte as the Cabinet Officer for Regional Developmen­t and Security (CORDS) for Region 3.

CORDS is a mechanism that aims to link regional and sub-regional levels of government to national agencies in order to harmonize peace, developmen­t and security efforts, and consequent­ly, formulate solutions to resolve the nation’s decades-long insurgency problem.

“Ang persona non grata ay ginagawa po natin para ipaabot sa kanilang grupo (CPP-NPA) na ang kanilang mga ginagawa ay hindi katanggap-tanggap sa lahat ng tao sa rehiyon (We have been declaring persona non grata to let this group know that what they have been doing

is unacceptab­le to everyone in the region),” Galvez said.

Meanwhile, RTF-ELCAC 3 members gave recommenda­tions on how the body can address the communist insurgency using local solutions.

“A political problem can only be solved by a political solution,” said Zambales Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.

“What we are doing here (RTF-ELCAC) is that political solution,” Ebdane added.

For his part, 7th Infantry Division commander Brig. Gen. Lenard Agustin echoed Ebdane’s suggestion, noting that the government is on the right track in resolving the communist rebellion with the implementa­tion of Executive Order 70.

“We all believe that the marching order of the President, this EO 70, is the right strategy to end the local communist armed conflict situation,” Agustin said.

In December 2018, the President signed EO 70 institutio­nalizing the “wholeof-nation approach” wherein local government units and members of the community can initiate “localized peace engagement­s” with the communist insurgents.

The said EO also led to the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict

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