DILG-9 chief hopeful communist insurgency in ZamPen will end soon

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Feb 27 (PIA) – The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) here believes that an insurgency-free Zamboanga Peninsula is soon within reach as government efforts have already laid the groundwork through convergence of development programs and interventions.

During an inter-agency meeting on February 26 here, Paisal Abutazil, DILG-9 regional director said “the regional implementation plans that our clusters have formulated had already set the overall framework on how the regional agencies actions will contribute to the ultimate goal of making Zamboanga Peninsula insurgency-free”.

Starting last year, different government agencies regularly convened in a series of meetings to come up with a localized implementation plan to promote peace and maximize access to government services in response to the needs of the communities, especially those affected by communist insurgency.

Programs and activities that reach out to the people especially in far-flung areas have been conducted last year, such as Serbisyo Caravans that literally bring government services to the grassroots. Also, through the localized peace engagements last year, more rebels have already surrendered their arms to become part of government once more.

These endeavors are in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 70 titled “Institutionalizing the Whole-of-Nation Approach in Attaining Inclusive and Sustainable Peace, Creating a National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and Directing the Adoption of a National Peace Framework”. Executive Order 70 is based on the premise that insurgency is borne out of the presence of these issues, in which government agencies must converge to address.

Upon the issuance of the order, government agencies are mandated to focus development efforts nationwide to address issues such as poverty, inaccessibility of services and social inequity. A Regional Task Force (RTF) for ELCAC was created composed of regional agencies.

“The regional implementation plans localized the national plan taking into consideration the prevalent situations in Zamboanga Peninsula,” Director Abutazil added.

The official is hopeful on the support of the local chief executives, as they are primary actors in the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP), one of the priority programs indicated in the regional plan. As per DILG guidelines, “the RCSP is a convergence mechanism for LGUs particularly in the barangay for the identification of issues and needed government interventions. It is anchored on the empowerment framework that intends to develop people’s capability to organize themselves and own development by bringing about value-chain interventions to uplift their current condition”. (EDT/DIS/PIA9-ZAMSULTA)

News Feed:

https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1035369
Latest News | Philippine Information Agency