TACLOBAN CITY (PIA) -- The counter-insurgency efforts in Eastern Visayas continued to strengthen as 51 former rebels took their pledge of allegiance during the Joint Regional Task Force 8 to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (JRTF8-ELCAC) meeting on Oct. 2, at the Summit Hotel, this city.

In Northern Samar, 35 former rebels, and 16 in Eastern Samar, have withdrawn their support to the rebel movement. They also received immediate, livelihood, and reintegration assistance worth P4.2 million under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) program.

Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez, the JRTF8-ELCAC Co-Vice-Chairperson and the Regional Development Council (RDC) VIII Chairperson said their pledge of loyalty and allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines manifests their willingness to be integrated into society to commit to democratic values and norms and renounce their past communist ideology.

The pledge of allegiance was further strengthened as a formalized organization of former rebels, called the Eastern Visayas Peacebuilders and Development Federation (EVPDF), signed a formal partnership agreement to peacebuilding efforts under a special project team of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU).

As of January to September 2023, some 23 Municipal Peacebuilders’ Associations and Regional Federations are organized and capacitated with local peace dialogues.

Secretary Benjamin C. Abalos Jr. of the Department of the Interior and Local Government identified relevant strategic challenges and opportunities, such as sustaining a whole-of-nation approach to counter-insurgency efforts and mainstreaming former rebels as productive members of the society, giving them livelihood programs and employment opportunities.

Meanwhile, Sec. Abalos Jr. and Tacloban City Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez, who is the Regional Peace and Order Council chairperson, initiated the shredding of demilitarized firearms turned in by the former rebels after the assistance distribution.

Aside from the JRTF8-ELCAC meeting, SILG Abalos Jr. also encouraged the public to support the country’s war against illegal drugs during the BIDA Fun Run held at the Leyte Landing Memorial Park, Candahug, Palo, Leyte. The said event was organized by the Department of the Interior and Local Government Region 8.