LABANGAN, Zamboanga del Sur, Oct. 08 (PIA)— The Office of the Presidential Assistant on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) commended the local government units (LGUs) of the Zamboanga Peninsula for the successful implementation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) program.

OPAPRU Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. revealed this to the local media during a press conference held during the Regional Former Rebel Leaders' Summit held at the Wellness Center, 1st Infantry (Tabak) Division, Philippine Army, Pulacan in Labangan town on Friday.

Galvez said that the NTF-ELCAC was successfully implemented in Zamboanga Peninsula because of the active support of the local chief executives and the regional directors of the national government agencies.

"Due to the implementation of the NTF-ELCAC in the LGUs, it greatly helped reduce the number of guerilla fronts and also reduce the terrorist activities carried out by the communist terrorist groups (CTGs) in the region.

He added that more or less 60 Front Guerillas have been dismantled in region 9 because of the cooperation of the LGUs, the military, and regional offices in delivering their programs and services in the mountains especially in the identified former conflict affected barangays.

"Peace and order in our country is now improved because the record of violent incidents has decreased. In our area here in Mindanao, we also have zero kidnapping incidents since 2020. Because of this development, we are very happy that the people can now enjoy their freedom of movement," Galvez proudly announced.

Meanwhile, Governor Victor Yu is very happy that Region 9 has become a model or pilot project of the national government transformation program for former rebels.

"I believe that the transformation program and our solution to the problem of insurgency will not happen overnight but it will take a long time to implement. However, we, the local chief executives will share our good ideas so that the implementation of the program will be even more successful," Yu said.

During the program, the governors of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay also gave their messages of commitment and support to the transformation program through their representatives. (RVC/GCC/PIA-Zamboanga del Sur)