DAVAO Oriental is the lone province in the region with a remaining guerilla front, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines 10th Infantry Division (10ID) on Friday, July 15.
Capt. Mark Anthony Tito,10ID Spokesperson, said the remaining rebel group is the weakened Guerilla Front 18 which is also the last guerilla front in Davao Region.
Once this group is dismantled, Tito said Davao Oriental would also be considered insurgency-free along with the rest of the provinces in the region.
“Mao ni atong gipaningkamutan karon na ma-dismantle kining nahibilin nga naginusa na lang na guerilla front sa tibuok Davao Region (This is want we are working on right now, to dismantle the last guerilla front in Davao Region),” Tito said during a radio interview.
Parts of the region were slowly declared insurgency-free this year starting with Davao City in March, followed by Davao del Norte in June, while Davao Occidental, Davao de Oro, and Davao del Sur are also considered insurgency-free but no formal declaration has been announced yet.
“These provinces naa na sila’y mga respective resolutions declaring provinces, including cities and municipalities as insurgency-free provinces,” Tito said in a previous interview.
The dismantling of guerilla fronts (GF) in the country was implemented through Executive Order No. 70 of the previous Duterte administration, creating the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTC-ELCAC).
Since the implementation of the NTC-ELCAC program in 2018, the 10ID were able to dismantle 15 guerrilla fronts in Davao Region. ICM