CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro (PIA) — The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) has made significant strides to end local communist armed conflict in the MIMAROPA region.
As a leading member of the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC), NICA has played a pivotal role in implementing strategies and initiatives that led to substantial progress in promoting peace and development in the region.
During the recent Media Orientation held in Calapan City, NICA MIMAROPA Regional Director Ariel T. Perlado presented his report on the RTF-ELCAC accomplishments which focused on security and law enforcement operations, reformation and awareness campaigns, and delivery of services and livelihood programs.
ELCAC campaign in MIMAROPA is closer to achieving a region free from insurgency through its sustained, intensified, and multi-faceted approaches, NICA reported, adding that the Joint Regional Task Force (JRTF) here continues to inch closer to achieving the desired strategic end-state.
Accordingly, around 88 percent of the Support to the Barangay Development Program (SBDP) has been accomplished by JRTF for Fiscal Year 2023 and is still ongoing. Of the SBDP-funded programs, six barangays are in Occidental Mindoro, seven in Oriental Mindoro, three in Palawan, and three in Puerto Princesa City with a total of 25 projects. Out of 25 projects, 22 have already been completed.
Based on the same year, JRTF accomplished P110,710,114.56 farm-to-market road (FMR) projects in Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, and Puerto Princesa City with a length of 8.917 km.
For the Water and Sanitation System project, the JRTF provided one project in one barangay in Oriental Mindoro costing P1,606,882.16 and benefiting 937 individuals while on the health station, JRTF spent P6,606,882.6, catering to 369 beneficiaries.
For Electrification, one barangay in Puerto Princesa City benefited from the government project with 750 beneficiaries costing some P6.61 million.
Other projects provided by the government in some identified barangays in MIMAROPA comprising FMRs, water supply and sanitation, health station, and rural electrification benefited 30,808 individuals with a total amount of P125.5 million cost of the project according to NICA.
As reported by NICA, one of the challenges being faced by the government in implementing the project of ELCAC is the land ownership issue of the proposed project site, thereby causing delays in the implementation.
Meanwhile, the JRTF-ELCAC continues to coordinate with the implementing local government units (LGUs), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the focal person, and other stakeholders to address the long-standing issue of communist insurgency in the country as embodied in the Executive Order No. 70, employing a whole-of-nation approach to end the local communist armed conflict. (LTC/PIA MIMAROPA)
