DAVAO ORIENTAL – Following eight piloting activities for the localized implementation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 70 here, Indigenous Peoples in the hinterland communities who have been reached by the new national directive are starting to feel respite as quick interventions starts to come in – made possible through the collective efforts of the local government and line agencies.

“The implementation of the national directive which started last April through Governor Nelson Dayanghirang’s Executive Order 13 have already made significant progress in the communities,” said Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) Vice Chairperson Ednar Dayanghirang as he listed down the updates of the program implementation during the recent Joint Provincial Peace and Order Council, Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (PADAC), and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) meeting.

Among the significant feat was the surrender of 22-year-old “Roy” (not his real name) who is regular member of the New People’s Army. Dayanghirang said Roy surrendered after he was convinced by his relatives and family members to come down following the community dialogue conducted by the Task Force at the rebel’s home village in the hinterland community of Barangay Taocanga in the municipality of Manay. Now a beneficiary of the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), the former rebel is set to receive scores of support from the government.

Meanwhile, quick interventions have also been implemented in some areas which include distribution of abaca seedlings, census of households who want to engage in tilapia production; assessment for skills training by TESDA such as driving, bread and pastry making, shielded metal-arc welding; and distribution of solar-powered lights and rechargeable projectors. In Barangay Taocanga, the Yamog Foundation, a Belgian-funded organization, is set to establish a 140-kilowatt micro-hydropower system.

While all the areas reached by the Task Force belong to the Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA) with poor to worse road condition – aggravating the suffering of impoverished farmers and residents alike – teams from the Provincial Engineer’s Office and its counterparts from the municipal local government and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are working together— pooling heavy equipment and other resources to scrape down roads leading to these hinterland villages as the military says “the road to peace is the road.”

Aside from targeting the GIDA communities, the Executive Order 70 implementation also reaches out to People’s Organizations whose members are former members of the Communist rebels’ Underground Mass Organizations who are now being organized by the Philippine Army to become legitimate organizations. Interventions for this groups include providing assistance in the registration of the organizations to the Securities and Exchange Commission, forming them as cooperatives, and sourcing out livelihood assistance.

Moreover, another group targeted for the program are the former rebels who are graduates of the E-CLIP considering that they are the most vulnerable to be recruited back to the armed struggle. He emphasized the need to ensure that their livelihoods and source of income are sustained.

Sustainability

With all these interventions being implemented on the grounds, the Provincial Government also feels to take the strategy to the next level by giving the local government units in the municipalities and the barangays their share of responsibility.

“Piloting activities are enough. We need to go to more institutionalized approach through the creation of the Municipal and Barangay Task Force to end the Communist insurgency,” says Ednar Dayanghirang.

To date, the Provincial Task Force is in the thick of organizing its counterparts in the municipalities. The municipality of Lupon was the first municipal LGU that formed its own Task Force.

However, forming the Task Force ELCAC is not the ultimate goal yet as there is a need to activate the cluster approach being adopted in the national and provincial level.

The cluster approach embodies the Executive Order 70’s true goal of utilizing the Whole-of-Nation approach which means to tap the collective efforts of all government instrumentalities, private sector, and all peace and development stakeholders in the effort to attain sustainable peace and to end the local Communist armed conflict. By Karen Lou Deloso/Photos by Eden Jhan Licayan