THE Cordillera remains the seat of insurgency as Colonel Essel Soriano, commanding officer of the 503rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army, said 41 villages in the region are still considered insurgency-affected areas.

He said the region remains to be the seat of the New People’s Army (NPA) in north Luzon.

For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter

For the first six months of the year, Soriano said the Army recorded 12 violent incidents involving the NPA.

There were 397 monitored non-violent activities, which was carried out by the rebel group, to include medical missions, meetings and dialogues, and extortion of food, among other activities.

The provinces of Kalinga, Ifugao, and Mountain Province are the three areas where NPA activities were mostly recorded, according to Soriano.

He presented the status of insurgency in the region during the Regional Peace and Order Council meeting at the Benguet capitol recently.

He asked the peace and order council to establish the Regional Internal Security Operations Convergence Center for better coordination with the other regions.

Several members of the rebel group were earlier reported to have returned to folds of government.

The arrest of Jovencio Balweg early this year was claimed as one of the factors that weakened the rebel association.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is expected to officially welcome back an undisclosed number of rebel returnees Saturday in Abra.

Arroyo is in Abra to witness the centennial celebration of the establishment of the Society of the Divine Word in the province. (With JL)