TWENTY-FIVE former rebels (FR) successfully underwent a three-month live-in deradicalization and capacity building Tupad Pangako Program of the Davao Del Sur Task Force Balik-Loob at Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) in Barangay Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao Del Sur after their graduation on October 20, 2022.

The inter-agency program, which is on its third implementation since 2021, aims to deconstruct the "hate" indoctrinated to former rebels, redeem their dignity, and reorient them on home economics and family values as part of the general objective of reintegrating the FRs to their respective communities.

The FRs three-month programmed activities were clustered into three; psychosocial intervention which includes deradicalization, interpersonal skills and spiritual enlightenment; occupational and livelihood skills development which includes organic farming, home economics and industrial skills; and alternative literacy program.

Likewise, during the duration of the program, the FR beneficiaries were enrolled in the civil registry and were given legal papers, particularly birth certificates.

Aside from the assistance from the Enhance Comprehensive Local Integration Program of Task Force Balik Loob, the Provincial Government of Davao Del Sur gave additional financial assistance worth twenty thousand pesos each while Davao Sur Provincial Agriculture Office distributed starter kits.

The closing ceremony was attended by the different converging agencies and institutions of the program. This includes the Provincial Local Government unit of Davao Del Sur, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Social Welfare and Development-Davao Region, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority-Davao Region, Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, Public Employment Service Office, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council-Davao Del Sur, municipal government of Bansalan, Davao Del Sur, Barangay Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center, 39th Infantry Battalion, 10th Infantry Division and Davao Del Sur Provincial Police Office. (PR)