DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Oct. 12 (PIA) -- Seven barangays in Negros Oriental have been added to the list of Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP) Barangays of the Negros Oriental Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Communist (NOTF ELCAC).

The said barangays are, namely: Milagrosa, Nagbalaye, Nagbindlod, and Talalak in Sta. Catalina; Pula in Canlaon City; and Apoloy and Mantiquil in Siaton.

This was revealed during the Re-Orientation and Workshop on RCSP held by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Oct. 11 here.

DILG is the lead agency for the Local Government Empowerment Cluster of the NOTF ELCAC.

Representatives from the Philippine Army, Philippine National Police, and RCSP teams from Canlaon City, Siaton, and Sta. Catalina attended the activity.

RCSP is part of the government’s convergence mechanism for the identification of issues in villages affected by insurgency and also government actions to be taken to address them.

It also aims to develop people’s capability to organize themselves and own development by bringing about value-chain interventions to uplift their current conditions.

Participants during the workshop were re-oriented on the RCSP processes especially the constitution of the RCSP teams in the Local Government Unit level.

They also mapped out future RCSP activities including the conduct of "Dagyawan sa Barangay: Talakayan ng Mamamayan" and Serbisyo Caravan in the seven additional barangays.

The inclusion of the said barangays was made following the recommendation of the Philippine Army to the national task force on ELCAC.

“When we say retooled, ang ini-emphasize diyan ang critical role of LGUs in our advocacy. Critical dahil hindi magsa-succeed ang ating engagement without the involvement of the LGU. Mas malaki ngayon ang role ng LGU with DILG dahil papasok po tayo sa community (When we say retooled, we are emphasizing the critical role of LGUs in our advocacy. They play a critical role because engagements like this won’t succeed without the involvement of the LGU. They have a major role to play because they are penetrating the community),” said DILG7 Regional Director Leocadio Trovela in his message during the activity.

He also underscored the importance of strengthening the capability of the barangays through the help of LGUs and the improved delivery of services to the grassroots to achieve the government’s anti-insurgency objective.

DILG will also engage with the barangay officials for further CSP capacity-building measures.

With this development, the seven villages will be part of the priority areas for the government’s whole-of-nation approach strategy or convergence efforts to address issues related to insurgency in Central Visayas.

This brings the number of ELCAC priority barangays in Negros Oriental to 47.

The barangays that were part of the ELAC priority barangays for 2019 to 2021 have been allocated with P4 million for the implementation of their proposed projects to address issues linked to insurgency. (RAL/PIA7 Negros Oriental)