Davao Region is now \u201cinsurgency-free\u201d following the series of successful peace and order initiatives that dismantled the remnants of the communist New People\u2019s Army (NPA) in the area.<\/p>\n
During a meeting at the Naval Felix Apolinario Station here Wednesday, members of the Regional Peace and Order Council\u2013Davao (RPOC-11) signed a resolution declaring the entire region as cleared of insurgents as of Sept. 19, 2022.<\/p>\n
Davao region is the third region in the country declared as insurgency-free, following Regions 1 and 9.<\/p>\n
The declaration came after the five-province Region 11 was declared to have been cleared out of NPA by their respective provincial and city peace and order councils this year.<\/p>\n
In March this year, this city was declared insurgency-free, followed by Davao de Oro and Davao del Norte in June, Davao del Sur in July, Davao Occidental in August, and Davao Oriental in September.<\/p>\n
Maj. Gen. Nolasco Mempin, Army\u2019s 10th Infantry Division commander and concurrent RPOC vice chairperson, thanked the different agencies and other RPOC members who contributed to achieving an insurgency-free region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere we are now and what we have achieved bespeak well of our excellent convergence and collaborative efforts,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In a presentation during the meeting, the Army said the majority of the NPA units operating in the region were under the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC).<\/p>\n
In 2019, the 1001st Infantry Brigade (IB) dismantled Guerilla Front (GF) 54 while the 1002IB tore down GF 51.<\/p>\n
Also in the same year, 1003IB dismantled Pulang Bagani Commands (PBC) 2 and 3, while 701IB took down GF15, 25, and PBC 6 and 8.<\/p>\n
In 2020, 100IB dismantled GF 33 and PBC 4, the 1002IB \u2013 GF 71 (Tala), and 1003IB \u2013 GF 56.<\/p>\n
Last year, the 1003IB undid GF55, followed by the dismantling of PBC by 1002IB and the dissolution of GF South and North by the 701IB.<\/p>\n
This year, the 1001IB dismantled GF\u2019s 2,3, Sub-Regional Committees (SRC) 4, Regional Sentro De Grabidad (RSDG), and Sub-Regional Guerilla Units of SRC 2.<\/p>\n
It was followed by the 1002IB\u2019s dismantling GF Alip, followed by the 1003IB\u2013SRGU and SRC 5, and 701IB \u2013 GF 18, SRC 1 and 2.<\/p>\n
From 2016 to 2022, a total of 437 encounters transpired; 1,597 loose firearms gained, and 1,749 NPA rebels were \u201cneutralized\u201d – 107 killed, 217 captured, and 1,425 surrendered.<\/p>\n
Also, 9,985 members of the underground mass organization surrendered, and 401 barangays were cleared from NPA influence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are so happy about this declaration. The development would now thrive without fear of intimidation, harassment, and sabotage from the NPA group,\u201d Mempin said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mempin, however, said part of the declaration is a more challenging task, which is the “sustainment and prevention” of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA from recruiting and regrouping.<\/p>\n
He noted that local government units (LGUs) would play a big role in sustaining the peace gains in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll issues being exploited by NPA and used by their propaganda cannot be solved by the military alone but with the good governance of the LGUs,\u201d Mempin said.<\/p>\n
Brig. Gen. Benjamin Silo Jr., Police Regional Office 11 chief and RPOC 11 chairperson, said to sustain the insurgency-free status, there is a need to institutionalize the Revitalized Pulis sa Barangay Program.<\/p>\n
The program is to identify peace and other public safety concerns such as prevalent crimes, drug problems, health issues, hazards, and disaster-prone areas as well as address insurgency mainly at the grassroots.<\/p>\n
Silo said police visibility will help thwart NPA presence in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas. (PNA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Davao Region is now \u201cinsurgency-free\u201d following a series of successful peace and order initiatives in the province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":227839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized"],"zyndk8_nxtgen_metadata":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=227840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/227839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=227840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=227840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=227840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}