TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (PIA) – – The coastal municipality of Dinapigue in Isabela has been officially declared insurgency-free by the Cagayan Valley Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC).
In a recent ceremony at the Eduardo F Chakiton Memorial Community Center in Barangay Digumased, Vice Mayor Reynaldo Derije said that the declaration, made on August 5, followed an earlier passage of a Joint Resolution by the RTF-ELCAC on April 20, 2024, declaring the municipality as ‘insurgency-free’.
Derije said that the Municipal Council also passed Resolution No. 2024-48 on July 8 to strengthen the RTF-ELCAC joint resolution.
To recall, a resolution affirming that the said town is a “cleared municipality” from the influence of the Communist Terrorist Group was signed by MGen Perfecto Rimando Jr., former commander of the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, on December 14, 2018.
On the same date, the Southern Front Committee Regional Committee – Cagayan Valley (KRCV), which used to operate in the area, was completely dissolved, and a Joint Resolution declared that the ‘Rehiyon Centro de Gravidad, KRCV’ was also dismantled on February 24, 2022.
According to Major Rigor Pamittan, spokesperson of the 5th Infantry Division, due to the successive operations of the military and the police, and in cooperation with the people, there have been no recorded actions by the communist groups since 2021.
Present during the declaration were Lt. Col. Empizo Angalao, Commander of the 86th Infantry Battalion; Mr. Jack Espiritu, Assistant Regional Director of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency; Major Are-J Caraggayan, Chief of the Dinapigue Municipal Police Station; and other local officials.
To date, the four coastal towns of Isabela province, namely Maconacon, Palanan, Divilacan, and Dinapigue, are now enjoying ‘insurgency-free’ status. (OTB/MDCT/PIA Cagayan)
