The military’s relentless efforts in cornering lawless elements — coupled by the public’s enhanced cooperation with authorities — in the eastern part of Mindanao had brought more peace and stability in the region.
According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom), it has achieved an improved security landscape in its area of responsibility for the year 2019.
Records show that lawless acts perpetrated by communist terrorist groups (CTG) dating back from the first quarter of 2018 to December this year showed a decline – where the 45 atrocities that were recorded on the first quarter of 2018 were down to nine for this quarter.
The military command attributed the decline to the peaceful turnover of 696 regular members of the New People’s Army (NPA), arrest of 85 and death of 56 others during encounters.
There was also a high number of firearms turned over by former rebels and for this year, a total of 689 different kinds of firearms were surrendered while 364 were seized during encounters.
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“The improved security situation is also attributed to continuous loss of mass base and space as 6,283 mass supporters or members of the underground mass organization dissociated and severed their ties with the CTG,” said EastMinCom spokesman Maj. Ezra Balagtey.
“As of this time, nine municipalities, four cities, 46 municipalities and 24 organizations in the whole area of EMC declared the CTG as persona non grata which forced them to be mobile and consolidate in the political boundaries of provinces,” he added.
Other military units also stepped up — with their Focus Military Operations able to follow through on information relayed by local communities, particularly those who declared the CTG as persona non grata.
The initiatives led to 275 armed encounters with the CTG and the discovery of 302 hideouts throughout the EastMinCom’s area of responsibility.
However, the military also suffered blows in their drive to end terrorism and violent extremism in the country.
In EastMinCom’s jurisdiction alone, 17 soldiers, 15 members of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) Active Auxiliary, and three Philippine National Police personnel were killed in action, the ultimate sacrifice those from the uniformed ranks make in pursuit of lasting peace.
Also noteworthy was the military’s cooperation with other security agencies, academe, religious groups, Local Government Units (LGU) and other peace stakeholders to ensure everything is within the bounds of the law.
