ANTIQUE Governor Rhodora Cadiao signed Friday, September 27, Executive Order (EO) 119, creating the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-Elcac) in the province.
The EO was passed during a meeting attended by the Antique Joint Peace and Order Council, Peace Development Council, and Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council and held in San Jose De Buenavista town.
The PTF-Elcac is tasked to ensure inter-agency convergence in the implementation of the "Whole of Nation Approach" framework in conflict-affected and vulnerable areas.
It will be composed of 12 clusters and efforts will be replicated in municipal and barangay levels.
The EO was Cadiao's answer to President Rodrigo Duterte's EO 70, or the one "institutionalizing the whole-of-nation approach in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace, creating a national task force to end local communist armed conflict and directing the adoption of national peace framework."
Duterte's EO was issued on December 4, 2018.
It said there is a need for a mechanism for the local peace engagement or negotiations and interventions that is consistent with the constitutional integrity and national sovereignty, response to local needs, and sensitive to the realities on the ground.
"There is a cognate need to attain inclusive and sustainable peace as well as to prioritize and harmonize the delivery of basic services and social development packages in armed conflict areas and vulnerable communities, facilitate social inclusivity, and ensure active participation of all sectors of society in the pursuit of the country's peace agenda," Duterte's EO stated.
The task force is composed of the following members: governor, vice-governor, representatives from the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, Philippine Army and Office of the Peace Order and Public Safety.
The Philippine Army's 61st Infantry Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Joel Benedict Batara lauded Antique for being the first province in Panay Island to create the PTF-Elcac.
Batara said the creation of the PTF-Elcac is a significant result of the convergence of efforts not only of members of the councils but through the initiative of Antique people who have been longing for genuine peace, security and development.
"We attributed the successful creation of the PTF-Elcac to the sterling leadership of LCEs (local chief executives), support of LGUs (local government units), security sector, stakeholders and the people of Antique who motivated the council to pass and approve the EO and resolution creating the anti-insurgency task force," Batara said. (SunStar Philippines)