The Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division lauded the rejection by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the call to abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) saying that the program has had a crucial contribution in the peace campaign in the Visayas Region.
Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, 3ID commander, in a press statement thanked the president for putting an end to the clamor to abolish NTF-ELCAC.
The president made the statement following the Supreme Court’s ruling that red-tagging poses a danger to individuals’ lives, liberty, and security.
In an interview, the president said that there is no reason to abolish the program.
Sison said NTF-ELCAC is by far the most effective approach to ending the decades-long insurgency, particularly in 3ID’s Area of Responsibility (AOR).
He cited that one of the initiatives of NTF-ELCAC, the Barangay Development Program (BDP), has brought development to hundreds of formerly insurgency-ridden villages in Western and Central Visayas through a range of projects that offer long-term solutions to these communities’ socio-economic problems.
The Division’s vigorous utilization of this approach has devastated the human and armed capabilities of the Communist Terrorist Group, leading to the dismantling of eight out of its nine Guerilla Fronts in Western and Central Visayas, the press statement said.
“The acknowledgement by our President of ELCAC’s substantial role in cutting down internal security threats further reinforces this”, Sison said, adding that this stance will realize their goal of establishing a state of Stable Internal Peace and Security in the region.*