E-CLIP AID. Anne Margarette Tauli (3rd from left), a former ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front, receives from Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong (4th from left) on Thursday the government’s cash aid under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program. Tauli voluntarily surrendered on June 11 after she sought the help of National Security Adviser Secretary Hermogenes Esperon. (PNA photo by Liza T. Agoot)
BAGUIO CITY – A high-ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) availed of the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), receiving on Thursday a financial aid from the government.
Anne Margarette Tauli got an initial livelihood package worth PHP65,000 from Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong in a simple ceremony here.
Tauli, a former Secretary of the Regional White Area Committee of the Ilocos-Cordillera Regional Committee (ICRC) of the CPP-NPA-NDF, voluntarily surrendered on June 11 to authorities, led by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon.
“Life is making a choice. I hope you can help us convince others in the movement to make a choice,” Magalong told Tauli.
Also, present during the event were Police Regional Office (PROCOR) chief, Brig. Gen. R'Win Pagkalinawan, 503rd Infantry Brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Henry Doyaoen, and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional director Marlo Iringan.
Aside from cash aid, a housing assistance for returnees from the National Housing Authority (NHA) was also offered to Tauli.
Tauli, like all the others who opted to lay down their arms and again support the government, are assisted via the E-CLIP to help them start a new life in peace.
“I am accepting this assistance since this is also from the people and will be given back to the people through our projects in Besao (Mountain Province) where we started, before Covid, some projects for progress and peace in our town,” Tauli said.
“This process of the DILG, this E-CLIP, before I go back to Besao, to my clan, relatives, the school, LGU whom I have worked with, are waiting for me to come back, she added.
Tauli was subjected to Covid-19 testing after the activity and will have to await the result before she returns to the province.
She said she will support the national government’s whole of nation approach to end local communist armed conflict for a “just and lasting peace.”
Pagkalinawan said he hopes that insurgency in the region ends with the surrender of Tauli, noting that he supports the former rebel leader’s advocacy of preserving the habitat in the Cordillera. (PNA)
