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Wednesday, July 09, 2003
500 NPA-influenced villages to get aid
By Harley F. Palangchao
BAGUIO -- Some 500 barangays identified as strongholds of the New People's Army (NPA) will get socio-economic assistance from the government in line with government's bid to fight the rebels in another way.
The identification of the barangays scattered in the entire archipelago was one of the items taken during the regular meeting of the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security Operations (Cocis).
Although it was not specified how many of the 500 barangays influenced by communist rebels are in Northern Luzon, the Armed Forces of the Philippines North Luzon Command earlier pegged the number at 300.
President Arroyo said Monday the government would conduct a political, social and economic audit of the 500 barangays and determine a specific set of military or developmental countermeasures "to extricate them from the rebels' grip."
The military has acknowledged that the unavailability of basic government services to remote areas in the country drive villagers to communism.
In the Cordilleras and Ilocos Regions, the AFP Civil Relations Service based in Camp Allen, reported that most of the identified NPA-influenced barangays are those located in hard-to-reach areas.
Early this year, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) announced that it has 27 battalions or about 13,500 full-time fighters deployed in significant portions of some 800 towns in 70 provinces in the country.
CPP Central Committee chair Armando Liwanag said in a statement that the deployment of full-time fighters "has put the revolutionary forces in a better position to achieve greater victories and to advance people's war."
The NPA, the armed wing of the CPP, has been waging a 34-year Maoist rebellion against the government.
Peace talks between the rebels and the government was suspended in 2001 following the assassination of two legislators. Sun.Star Baguio
(July 9, 2003 issue)
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