Armed group fails to give up firearms

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA) chairman Arsenio Humiding was caught off guard in the recent Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) meeting when an expected turnover of arms was scheduled.

The RPOC convened last week with a scheduled turnover of arms from the CPLA to which Humiding said, “We are not aware of any plans for a turn over and that matter was never raised with us.”

Humiding attended the RPOC to give a briefing on the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (Pamana) resilient Communities Program under the Office of Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (Oppap).

Implementation of projects is now on the move after the signing of the closure agreement last year.

Humiding said the Armed Forces of the Philippines is still coming up with an integration program while the Philippine National Police is crafting the issuance of an arms management program for the CPLA, a requisite before the arms turnover.

Humiding signed a pact with government for the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration of CPLA members into the mainstream of society, paving the way for the transformation of the CBA-CPLA into a socio-economic organization.

The group is now in the thick of arms and forces demobilization asking legitimate members to register their firearms.

But Humiding plead, “We beg that the turnover of arms will come later.”

The CPLA received P242 million to fund various projects all over the region as part of the Pamana program to fund various projects for development in the region.