BY: BY JENNIFER C. TILOS
DUMAGUETE CITY, April 21 (PIA) --The Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) has issued recently a resolution endorsing Negros Oriental as “Conflict Manageable and Development Ready” .
With the security situation presented during the PPOC meeting, the province is considered as 'at a conflict-manageable level' where insurgency has dwindled in the past years due to the continuous decline of rebel armed movements in the affected areas.
It is said that the communist party or the New People’s Army groups have been reduced that it can no longer pose a serious threat to peace and order in the province.
It is also explained that an area is declared insurgency-free if the strength of rebels within its jurisdiction is too small to influence the livelihood of residents.
Governor Roel Degamo welcomes the development that the province is now at a “conflict-manageable or “insurgency-free”.
However, the governor said, “This brand name does not really matter, what is important is that insurgency now has decreased to its minimum in the province.”
The 302nd Brigade Commander Brigadier General Francisco Patrimonio, presented the latest assessment of the status of the insurgency movement in the province.
The report showed a very manageable insurgency situation as concretized by the dwindling number of insurgents, their mass base, and their areas of concerns in Negros Oriental.
With this, a declaration will be formally signed on May 7 to be witnessed by the high ranking officials of the Department of National Defense (DND), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Governor Degamo admitted this is another great accomplishment of the provincial government in relation to its vision of attaining real peace and development in the province.
He thanked all the sectors that serve as his partners namely the AFP, the PNP, the various uniformed services and law enforcement agencies, and most of all the private sector and the public in general.
However, the governor also said that it is at this point where the real challenge starts because he believes that addressing the insurgency problem is one thing but sustaining the peace and development effort is another thing.
He said it is not enough that we have minimized the problem to a “conflict manageable and development ready level” but we also need to continue to come together so that we will not anymore provide those who push for other ideologies the opportunities to strengthen their movement.
“This is also an opportunity to show to the people the presence of the government especially in addressing their basic needs in or order to uplift their quality of life,” he said.
He also readily accepted the challenge of handling the fight against insurgency in the province as concerns on internal peace and security will be turned over to the LGUs and the PNP.
General Patrimonio, on the other hand, said that the AFP will continue to have its presence felt in the province but its role in as far as internal peace and security is concerned will be more of the supervisory level in support to the LGUs and the PNP.
In order to sustain this, the governor promised he will continue to bring about aggressive efforts in coordination with the various agencies of government and the private sector. (mbcn/JCT/PIA7-Negros Oriental)