RPOC XI execom tackles COVID-19, insurgency
DAVAO ORIENTAL, July 10 (PIA) -- Members of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) traveled to the City of Mati on Thursday (July 9) to attend the RPOC Executive Committee Meeting that merged concerns on COVID-19 and insurgency.
As host, RPOC chairperson Davao Oriental Provincial Governor Nelson Dayanghirang welcomed them to his province, giving them encouragement “to keep our faith strong” as he optimistically hoped for victory over COVID-19.
He presided over the meeting which highlighted updates on the peace and order situation as well as on the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Davao Region.
During the meeting, the Department of Health Region XI Regional Director Dr. Annabelle P. Yumang, MCH, CESE, provided participants updates on COVID-19 in Davao Region including the information on accredited Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities at the local government units (LGU) levels.
She lauded the local chief executives (LCEs) in Davao Region for providing necessary assistance to returning overseas Filipino workers and locally stranded individuals (LSIs) notwithstanding the reported refusal of their counterparts in other regions to accommodate OFWs and LSIs.
She, however, called on LCEs to roll out training for local contact-tracers up to the barangay levels.
The RPOC Executive Committee meeting also presented the revised organizational structure of the Regional Inter-agency Task Force on COVID -19 “for the seamless coordination in the interventions in addressing the public health emergency.”
Meanwhile, the public safety and security sector of RPOC XI led by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) tackled the urgent need to continuously address insurgency threats that’s persisting more than 50 years and even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry “Agila” Division G-7 commander, Col. Jacob Thaddeus “Jake” Obligado cited as a long-persisting “virus” the communist insurgency in the country that needs attention.
He revealed that the legal arms of the communist insurgency in the Davao Region have blended and integrated education and information, as well as, development propaganda in their operation.
He also made participants understand that communist insurgency influence have perpetuated influence in the labor sector and in the education system by establishing a network that drumbeats saving schools that allegedly caters to indigenous peoples and disadvantaged youth but in reality are instruments of recruiting “Cadres”.
Also tackled during the RPOC Executive Meeting was Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 or the Republic Act 11479 as presented by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Regional Director Evarly Tajanlangit.
The recent RPOC Executive Meeting yielded two resolutions. One was pushed by Davao de Oro Provincial Governor Jayvee Tyrone Uy “Institutionalizing the Rural Pulis sa Barangay (RPSB)” to reduce the vulnerability of barangays from insurgency infiltration.
The other resolution was pushed by Jose Abad Santos (JAS) Mayor Jason John A. Joyce “to create a Local Grievance Committee to address complaints regarding social amelioration program (SAP) before these are filed at the level of the Crime Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) level”.
Among the key officials present during the RPOC Executive Meeting were the high-ranking officials of the Armed Force of the Philippines led by Eastern Mindanao Command (EASTMINCOM) Commander Lieutenant-General Jose Faustino, Jr. and 10th Infantry Division Commander Major General Reuben Basiao.
Also present are the Regional Director of the Philippine National Police Police Brigadier General Filmore Escobal, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Regional Director Alex Roldan, and Davao de Oro Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy, among other executives. (Jeanevive Duron-Abangan, PIA XI with reports from PIO Davao Oriental)
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