NICA-3 director Ma. Luisa F. De Guzman with troopers from the Army’s 48IB led by Lt. Col. Enrico Gil C. Ileto. Contributed photo.
SAN JOSE CITY – Top ranking intelligence and military officials are pressing for a speedy and improved delivery of social services to former rebels and their families, an army official said here Saturday.
Lt. Col. Enrico Gil C. Ileto, commanding officer of the 48th Infantry Battalion based in this city, said the welfare of ex-New People’s Army rebels who opted to return to the fold of the law was discussed in their meeting with director Ma. Luisa F. de Guzman of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Region 3 on May 5.
De Guzman expounded on how to speed up the delivery of benefits to the former NPA rebels (FRs) under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) of the Task Force Balik-Loob (TFBL) of the Department of National Defense, Ileto said.
E-CLIP is a multi-agency program designed to provide assistance to returnees to help them start a new life, especially during their transition from their “violent existence towards a peaceful existence in the arms of their family.”
“We have FRs that qualified for the program who are yet to receive their benefits from it and other provisions of assistance and interventions from the member agencies of ECLIP clusters,” Ileto said.
Ileto also emphasized the importance of the E-CLIP program of the government in pursuing peace and ending the more than a half-century old communist insurgency in the country.
De Guzman assured 48IB troopers that the agency will work hand on hand with the unit to work out those assistances from different member agencies of the ECLIP Cluster to resolve issues and address the needs of the FRs.
“I really want to know which aspect or area that we experience difficulties, we know that we had a lot of things to do because of the whole of nation, whole of government approach,” De Guzman said.
President Duterte signed EO No. 70 on 2018 institutionalizing the whole-of-nation approach in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace and creating the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. The NICA sits as a member of the NTF-ELCAC, and heads the Situational Awareness and Knowledge Management (SAKM) Cluster of the task force.
The SAKM Cluster develops and implements educational awareness campaigns, purposely for deeper understanding of the strategies and tactics of the communist terrorist group.
Former rebels are qualified to receive benefits through the support of government agencies which include the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Reform, National Housing Authority, Department of Education/Commission on Higher Education. Civil society and non-government organizations also provide benefits to FRs.
