THE Unified Cordillera People’s Liberation Army said there are impostors who have allegedly assumed the group’s identity to engage in land grabbing and extortion.
Through a resolution, the Unified CPLA informed the Benguet Provincial Board and all government offices concerned of the presence of such a group of impostors in Benguet.
“We condemned the misrepresentation of the CPLA by impostor groups committing criminal activities like extortion and land grabbing,” said the resolution while expressing their commitment to frontrunner in the quest for autonomous region of the Cordillera.
“We, the Unified CPLA members of the Province of Benguet, do not recognize and take no part in the closure agreement between the Aquino Administration and few members of the CPLA,” the group, led by chairman and Abra Vice Governor Ronald Balao-as, stated.
During the Benguet Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) meeting, Governor Crescencio Pacalso through a resolution said the province does not recognize any group claiming to be members of the CPLA.
The resolution also condemned acts of recruitment, which has allegedly disturbed the peace among the constituents.
The PPOC resolution number 06 series of 2014 was issued declaring the province as CPLA-free and that related recruitment activities are not allowed.
In 1898, the CPLA was founded by Conrado Balweg in the Cordillera region. The group has been long disbanded and its members have supposedly been integrated into the military.