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Anti-insurgency efforts in Aurora reach communities

By Jason De Asis

October 22, 2019, 7:17 pm

<p><strong>ANTI-INSURGENCY EFFORTS.</strong> First Lt. Adriano Muring Jr., commanding officer of the Alpha (Warriors) Company, 69th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, discusses the government's anti-insurgency efforts with the local officials of Dingalan, Aurora during their meeting last October 16, 2019. The Barangay Development Council and Barangay Peace and Order Council of Barangays Butas na Bato and Davil-Davilan in Dingalan town have passed resolutions for the activation of the Barangay Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (BTF-ELCAC). <em>(File photo of the Army's 69th Infantry Battalion)</em></p>

ANTI-INSURGENCY EFFORTS. First Lt. Adriano Muring Jr., commanding officer of the Alpha (Warriors) Company, 69th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, discusses the government's anti-insurgency efforts with the local officials of Dingalan, Aurora during their meeting last October 16, 2019. The Barangay Development Council and Barangay Peace and Order Council of Barangays Butas na Bato and Davil-Davilan in Dingalan town have passed resolutions for the activation of the Barangay Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (BTF-ELCAC). (File photo of the Army's 69th Infantry Battalion)

DINGALAN, Aurora – The government’s anti-insurgency campaign in this province has started to roll down to the grassroots.

First Lt. Adriano B. Muring Jr., commanding officer of the Alpha (Warriors) Company, 69th Infantry (Cougar) Battalion, said on Monday that the Barangay Development Council and Barangay Peace and Order Council of Butas na Bato and Davil-Davilan, two of the villages in this town, have passed resolutions for the activation of the Barangay Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (BTF-ELCAC).

Muring cited the vital role of the barangay councils in ending the local communist armed conflict. He encouraged them to do their part in attaining peace.

In his meetings with the local officials of both villages, Agas discussed the rationale behind President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 70, which institutionalizes the whole-of-nation approach in fighting the communist insurgency in the country.

”We also discussed the retooled Community Support Program (CSP) of the Army and its purpose to let them know the efforts of the 69IB in the attainment of peace in Aurora,” he said.

Major General Lenard Agustin, for his part, said in an interview also on Monday that “this is the first step towards the goal of achieving lasting peace in the municipality of Dingalan". "With the activation of the BTF-ELCAC, barangay councils will be pro-active in addressing different social issues in the barangays," he said.

“Everything must be addressed at the grassroots levels, because it is where everything starts, and logically, it is where problems and issues must first be addressed, said Agustin, who is the commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry (Kaugnay) Division which has control over the 69IB.

Dingalan Mayor Shierwin Taay, in a phone interview, said that ever since, the local government units in this municipality have been in full support of President Duterte’s call for a whole-of-nation approach to fight insurgency.

“We condemn activists and terrorists in our local community. As I reiterated, we condemn and rejected their (NPA) presence in our town,” Taay said.

He pointed out that this town does not tolerate any terroristic actions of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and its propagation of fear among the general public.

“We are doing our fullest efforts to prevent the rebels from entering and sowing terror in this place,” he added. (PNA)

 

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