WHOLE-OF-NATION APPROACH. The Visayas Command, headed by Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, discusses the gains in the fight against insurgency during a command conference at their headquarters in Camp Lapulapu, Cebu City on Monday (Oct. 10, 2023). Arevalo said 569 community development projects implemented through the Barangay Development Program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict helped the military in its ongoing campaign. (Photo courtesy of Viscom-PIO)
CEBU CITY – The Visayas Command (Viscom) on Tuesday said 569 community development projects in central Philippines’ 16 provinces immensely contributed to the impending complete downfall of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, Viscom chief, said the projects hatched through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s (NTF-ELCAC) Barangay Development Program (BDP) aided the military to further neutralize communist leaders, most of whom surrendered to authorities.
“We have sustained our gains and prevented the CPP-NPA from regaining their foothold in the region. We will continue our relentless focused military operations to further push the terrorist group to their imminent collapse,” he said on the sidelines of a command conference at the Viscom headquarters here late Monday.
Arevalo said 263 of the BDP in the Visayas were programmed in 2021 while 306 were in 2022.
He disclosed that cases filed against NPA rebels include recruitment, killings, use and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines, destruction of civilian properties, and use of children in armed conflict.
“The CPP-NPA’s reign of terror in the region is nearing its end. Their leaders continue to fall and their members continue to return to the fold of the law,” he said. (PNA)
