DAVAO DEL NORTE, Feb. 19 (PIA) --- The 1003rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army is set to mobilize within the quarter its peace and development teams to far-flung barangays at the borders of the province.
Colonel Harold Cabreros, commander of 1003rd Infantry (Raptor) Brigade revealed the deployment of peace and development teams in “areas frequented by communist rebels and those considered as affected areas.”
He believed the brigade would have sufficient elements to roll out the Peace and Development (PDOP) Program in the peripheral areas with the coming in of additional forces to cover contiguous areas at the borders of Davao del Norte, Bukidnon, Compostela Valley Province and Agusan del Sur.
He expected resistance from “the armed groups” but he assured of enough preparation, however, he asked the residents to support efforts of the military to clear the peripheral areas of the adjacent provinces and to make way for government services.
Aside from providing security, the PDOP teams will conduct seminars and needs assessment of the far-flung communities to provide national and local government agencies information on what services to deliver.
The 1003rd wages the PDOP operation parallel with the implementation of Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) projects under the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Procests (OPAPP).
The provincial office of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said that by 2015, the PAMANA focused towns in Davao del Norte are Kapalong, New Corella, San Isidro, Talaingod and Asuncion.
“With the PAMANA now, we have endorsed these areas: underdeveloped areas, insurgency-affected areas, so that developmental projects would come in,” Cabreros said.
Meanwhile, Cabreros sympathized with the pressure that residents of Barangay Gupitan had been experiencing due to presence of armed groups, allegedly NPA members, in their communities.
He had learned that the armed groups were recruiting members of tribal communities and were staying for prolonged period to conduct seminars, causing fear and alarm among tribal folks.
“Kaya asahan nila makakapagbigay tayo ng tulong sa kanila para mawala na yong takot. (Rest assured that we can provide them help to ease their fear.),” he said but he asked them to cooperate and support the military elements sent to conduct PDOP.
Gupitan Brgy Capt. Evangelio Warag, in an earlier interview with PIA, revealed that the NPA required every sitio to produce recruits and that the group also demanded acres of land to develop a communal area for tree planting. (PIA 11/Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)
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