DAVAO CITY (PIA)– Staying passionate in collaborating efforts to sustain peace gains is crucial as the government moves forward from its strategic success to end the communist armed conflict.
National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) Secretariat Executive Director, Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr pointed this out when interviewed by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) XI during his attendance to yearend Full Council Meeting of the Joint Regional Task Force (JRTF) ELCAC.
He lauded the JRTF ELCAC Davao Region for sustaining the peace gains in Davao Region, as “this ushers into a lot of development efforts.”
“Kaya po sane huwag po tauong maging complacent sana mas lalo mas lalo pa tayong maging passionate (Hoping we won’t get complacent, hoping we would become passionate) in collaborating our efforts to sustain our peace gains,” he said in an interview.
He specified areas of concerns to which he had seen the need for JRTF ELCAC Davao Region to focus particularly on “preventing the communist terrorist group (CTG) recruitment of the youth and student sectors, and on preventing the exploitation of the most vulnerable sector of our society: the urban poor, fisherfolks, peasants and the indigenous peoples.”
“Dapat po hindi sila ma exploit ng (They should not be exploited by the) communist terrorist group,” he said.
Torres also called for public vigilance against “resource generation” of CTGs “here and abroad” although he said the CTG has already substantially lost networks of fund sources.
“Kinakailangan pa rin nating maging mapagmasid lalo na (We still need to be vigilant, especially) this time, magkakaroon tayo ng (that we would have an) election and we had experienced in the past meron silang mga (they had these) extortion schemes: permit to campaign, permit to win;
“So let us not give in sa mga ganitong (these kinds of ) demands,” Torres emphasized.
He urged the public to report these extortions to government authorities, partners in the security sector and whatever attempts to extort from legitimate political candidates.
Meanwhile, Torres said the JRTF ELCAC XI can also help efforts to “counter the international networking of CTGs, because there were some cases that they were exploiting the ‘unfortunate conditions of our fellowmen.”
“The indigenous peoples, disasters, and capitalize on these misfortunes para kumuha po ng suporta (to draw support) abroad,” he told PIA XI.
On the other hand, Torres positively noted the leadership of Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Secretary Leo Tereso Magno as the Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security (CORDS) for instituting the interagency collaboration to sustain peace.
He also lauded the JRTF ELCAC XI for integrating the regional organization of former rebels as part of the JRTF ELCAC, and together with the business sector, it become one of he civil organization representatives. (PIA XI, JMDA)
