LIVELIHOOD AID. Eight former Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) members in Central Negros receive livelihood kits from the government through the Department of Trade and Industry. The distribution of the livelihood assistance under the DTI's Pangkabuhayan sa Pagbangon at Ginhawa was held on Tuesday (July 5, 2022) at Camp Tirambulo in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental; and in Isabela town, Negros Occidental. (Photo courtesy of the 62IB, Philippine Army)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Eight more former rebels of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Central Negros have received livelihood kits from the government as part of its efforts to end the insurgency.
A media release from the 62nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army on Wednesday said the former rebels got the livelihood kits on Tuesday at Camp Tirambulo in Barangay McKinley, Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental, and in Barangay Libas, Isabela town in Negros Occidental.
The Guihulngan City Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and the 62IB, in collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Negros Oriental, turned over the agency’s livelihood assistance under its Pangkabuhayan sa Pagbangon at Ginhawa (DTI-PBG).
Of the eight former rebels, three were former NPA combatants while five were Milisyang Bayan members who surrendered due to “extreme hardship and neglect from their leaders in the organization”.
Five of them received 10 goats, two got sari-sari store kits, while another one received a cellphone with a freeloader.
Last June 21, the first batch of 24 former rebels also got the same livelihood assistance, the 62nd IB said.
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, told the Philippine News Agency that the various forms of assistance handed over to former rebels signify the “sincere effort” of the government to help them start a new life.
“This is where we can see that government agencies involved in the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) are sincerely doing their part in providing former rebels with livelihood assistance so they can reintegrate into society and return to a normal life,” Pasaporte said.
He called on the other members of the NPA to give up the armed struggle and surrender because the government will be on hand to assist them in improving their lives, he added.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The National Democratic Front has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973. (PNA)
