INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
LUCENA CITY – Ten out of the forty-one municipalities in Quezon province have been declared free from the clutches of the New People’s Army (NPA), police reported Saturday, March 11.
Quezon police chief, Colonel Ledon Monte, in a report said the town of Real in the northern part of the province was the latest municipality with a “Stable Internal Peace and Security” (SIPS) or insurgency-free status.
Monte said the declaration meant that local government projects and programs “have reached the phase ready for investment and development having zero incidents of terroristic activities by the NPA.”
In his report, Monte quoted Real Mayor Diana Abigail Diestro-Aquino as she thanked the “gallant and dedicated (government) forces, the partner government agencies and the residents of the municipality for working so hard to achieve our shared dream of safe, secured and communist-free environment.”
On Feb. 27, the towns of Infanta and General Nakar, also located in the northern part of the province at the base of the Sierra Madre mountain ranges, were declared by the police, military and local government officials as insurgency free.
Before 2022 ended and early this year, the towns of Macalelon, Unisan, Gumaca, San Narciso and the island municipalities of Alabat, Perez and Quezon located in Alabat island in the Pacific Ocean had also been declared NPA-free localities.
Macalelon, Unisan and San Narciso are located in the province’s 3rd district (Bondoc Peninsula), a known former NPA bailiwick in the Southern Tagalog region.