AFP declares Laguna ‘insurgency-free’

LUCENA CITY –– The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has declared the province of Laguna “insurgency-free” or liberated from the clutches of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

Capt. Jayrald Ternio, chief of the public affairs office of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, said Laguna became the second province in the Calabarzon to be declared an “area with Stable Internal Peace and Security” (SIPS).

“Under the AFP’s phases of normalization, a province is given the SIPS status if no violent terroristic activity has been conducted by the NPA for at least one year,” Ternio said in a press statement Thursday.

He noted that no NPA atrocity has been recorded in Laguna for more than a year.

Aside from Laguna, Cavite had also been declared SIPS on Dec. 4, 2018, followed by Romblon on Feb. 21, 2019 and Marinduque on Mar 25, 2019.

The declaration was contained in the Memorandum of Agreement signed by Laguna Governor Ramil Hernandez and Brig. General Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., commander of the 2nd ID during the provincial peace and order council meeting Thursday, Ternio said.

During the ceremony, the military also granted 12 NPA returnees P584,000 that represented the government’s remuneration of their surrendered firearms under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program or E-CLIP.

Burgos said the declaration and handover of grants “are tangible proofs that the government is serious and sincere in its desire to finally attain national unity by ending the local communist armed conflict.”

He called on the “few remaining” NPA rebels to surrender.

Hernandez has expressed confidence that by being known as an insurgency-free area, “businesses will further flourish and prosperity shall become a way of life in every corner of Laguna.”

The event was attended by the mayors, representatives from different national government agencies, military and police operating in the province./lzb