PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan (PIA) — The province of Palawan is already enjoying peace since the province was declared insurgency-free, according to the report of Western Command (WESCOM) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“We can proudly say that the province of Palawan is insurgency-free with 360 days without NPA-initiated violent incidents since September 1, 2023, as affirmed by the President himself. But the province of Palawan is already enjoying peace for 974 days,” the report revealed during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas, August 13, held at the headquarters of 203rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army in Bansud, Oriental Mindoro.
Palawan was declared insurgency-free on December 2, 2022, through a Joint Resolution No. 01 series of 2022 of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) and the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC).
On the other hand, the City of Puerto Princesa was declared a Zone of Peace and Development on March 31, 2023, through Resolution No. 489-2023 of the City Council.
Then on the celebration of 2023 National Peace and Consciousness Month, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. affirmed the status of Palawan as insurgency-free.
The WESCOM recorded a total of 24 municipalities and 333 barangays in Palawan that declared Communist Terrorist Groups (CTGs) as persona non-grata while the other remaining 100 barangays are still under consultation for proper documentation.
Since the province was declared insurgency-free, WESCOM no longer encountered CTGs-initiated violent incidents.
In 2024, WESCOM said that there were no significant personalities who surrendered and no withdrawal of support was recorded.
During the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas, Western Command (WESCOM) Deputy Commander for External Defense Operations Commodore Constancio Arturo Y. Reyes, Jr. said that they are capacitating and educating the barangay populace and providing livelihood as their effort for sustaining the insurgency-free status of the province.
“Basically po, we are capacitating the populace and educating them and providing them livelihood. ‘Yon naman po talaga ang rason kung bakit lumilipat ng loyalty ang ating mga kababayan, dahil po sa kakulangan po siguro ng kabuhayan at kakulangan po ng kaalaman. ‘Yon po siguro ang sustainment na pwede naming maibigay at maging ehemplo na best practices dito sa Palawan,” Reyes said. (OCJ/PIA-MIMAROPA-Palawan)
