Duterte envisions insurgency-free nation for future generation

President Rodrigo Duterte listens to the discussions during the Joint National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police Command Conference at the Malacañang Palace on Monday, 18 November 2019. (PCOO)

President Rodrigo Duterte emphasized the need for the government to focus on “conflict-prone” communities in an effort to stop the decades-old communist insurgency in the country.

Duterte made the call during a joint command conference with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) held at Malacañang Palace on Monday, National Security Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said.

“The President stressed his desire to put an end to the more than 50 years of communist insurgency, saying that the effort is for future generations,” Esperon said in a statement.

“If we cannot solve this problem now, our children will be confronted with this problem still. Ako gusto ko tapusin na lahat (I want to end this),” Duterte, as quoted by Esperon, said during the joint command conference.

On 23,November 2017, President Duterte signed Proclamation 360, formally scrapping the peace talks between state peace negotiators and consultants of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF).

Proclamation 360 said the CPP, NDF and its armed wing, New People’s Army (NPA), failed to show sincerity in pursuing “genuine and meaningful” peaceful negotiations, despite the “best efforts” exerted by the Duterte administration.

On 4,December 2018, Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) 70, which institutionalized the whole-of-nation approach that will be implemented by the NTF-ELCAC in a bid to attain “inclusive and sustainable peace.”

Esperon said the President provided guidance in addressing the challenges and limitations faced by government units on the ground in dealing with the communist movement.

“He (Duterte) further stressed the need to focus on conflict-prone communities, as he called on those present to ensure that the roots of the communist insurgency would be addressed through enhanced programs and harmonized efforts in providing for basic needs such as housing, water, education, and health,” he said.

Nearly 400 government executives attended the joint command conference—Cabinet members; Cabinet Officers for Regional Development and Security (CORDS) and their government consultants; heads of the Regional Development Councils and Regional Peace and Order Councils; and top brass and senior commanders of the AFP and the PNP.

The CPP-NPA has been tagged as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

To achieve the President’s goal of ending local communist armed conflict, Esperon said the Retooled Community Support Program is now being implemented in areas with vulnerable populations to ensure the improved delivery of basic services.

Esperon added that the government’s milestone programs such as free tertiary education, free irrigation, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, universal health care program, ease of doing business, “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program, and intensified implementation of land reform have enhanced the living conditions of the Filipino people. (PNA)