BAGUIO CITY (PIA) — Baguio City envisions a more secured, progressive and united innovative community, and the activation of the Joint Community Defense and Development Support Task Unit or the JTU “Panagkaykaysa” can help make this happen.
JTU Panagkaykaysa Director BGeneral Ferdinand Melchor Dela Cruz introduced this unit among line agencies, the local government unit of Baguio City, civil society organizations and youth sector representatives during the Community Resilience and Defense Awareness Forum on September 27, 2024 at the Baguio City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
Dela Cruz explained that the JTU is responsible for upholding the sovereignty, supporting the constitution and defending the territory of the Republic of the Philippines against all enemies, foreign and domestic, advancing the national aims, interest and policies, and planning the organization, maintenance, development, and deployment of its regular and citizen armed force for national security.
Dela Cruz also said that the JTU Panagkaykaysa is a paradigm shift in the government’s efforts of peace building to adapt in the changing security environment. This coalition of various government agencies and stakeholders embodies peace through the whole of society approach.
“We know that even the internal conflicts, the insurgency is a product, an episode of injustices and social and economic inequalities, that is why all of this, we are trying to address in a whole of society approach,” he said.
According to Dela Cruz , the JTU dwells on unity. As the name implies, “Panagkaykaysa” is an Iluko term for unity.
“Our emphasis here is unity, the feeling of belongingness of the agencies-that we are all united. We need to collaborate; this is an avenue to be united regardless of the background, the political beliefs. We need to focus on what we are as a nation,” he said.
To achieve this, the JTU is extending an arm to its partners to intensify joint quick reaction teams, institutionalize culture of resilience and preparedness, and organize reaction programs for threats to national security.
The JTU is also mandated to address sectoral socio-economic issues through various forms of programs and to induce collective threat response initiatives, civil society organizations advocacy and social responsibility project, and reconciliation with all groups and sectors. (JDP/CVBT-PIA CAR)
